A Fear to Beat
by Omydeadvoldemort
Summary: Hermione trades her life for a more adventurous one with the Doctor. It brings her to scary, stunning and exciting situations, but also sad ones. With the Doctor still feeling broken because of Rose, he finds it hard to stop himself getting attached to Hermione. Just because of one decision, he changes her whole life. First the 10th, later the 11th Doctor.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing this story! Please comment what you think of it!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything, just the storyline and my imagination.

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A huge fight. That's how the relationship between Ron and Hermione ended. It was rather horrible. Thank Merlin that nobody was at the Burrow except for them that day. It had caused Hermione moving away from the Burrow to muggle London. It was kind of relieving. Usually people recognized her at Diagon Alley or at other magical places. It felt like she didn't have any privacy left and it was her privacy that was important to her. That's why she decided that she would lock herself out of the magical world. Harry didn't completely understand why she broke off the contact, so didn't Ginny and the other Weasleys. What she just didn't know yet was that her moving to muggle London would cause the best and saddest moments in her whole life. This is the story of Hermione Granger, companion of the Doctor.

The sun lid up Hermione's face as she walked through the streets of London. She just got back from her work at the library. It was a rather boring day, like usual and she felt like her life didn't have a purpose anymore. It was always the same. She would wake up, get dressed and have breakfast, go to work, get back home and then she would go to sleep. It was warm, actually way too warm for a spring day in London. She decided to take advantage from it by sitting on a bench in the middle of London and looking at the people who passed by. There were tourists with maps, men in suits, fat people, thin people, all kinds of people. It was just watching them do the things the loved or hated, watching a tiny part of their lives. She enjoyed it.

"Hello," a man said and sat down next to her. Hermione hadn't noticed him so she nearly jumped when she suddenly heard him speaking.

"Good afternoon,'' she replied and looked at her right. She saw a man from around 30 with dark, messy hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a long, sandy color coat with underneath a jacket, shirt and a tie. He looked a bit extraordinary, which made him interesting.

''Can you perhaps tell me anything about that building over there?'' the man pointed at a small, brown shed across the street. He saw that he had sat down behind a young woman with brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her expression betrayed that she was looking at something that fascinated her.

''I might live here, but I have no idea, to be honest. Could be a part of someone's house.'' Hermione said and shrugged once. ''It looks quite old, could've been built in the 19th century, I think. But what exactly it is, I don't know, sorry.''

''Oh, well, thanks anyways. What did you say your name was again?'' he asked and looked at her with curiosity. She reminded him somewhat of Rose. There were no features that looked the same, definitely not the hair, not the eyes, not the lips. But her expression, the way that Rose looked when she walked out of the TARDIS or whenever she saw something beautiful looked exactly like hers now. It hurt him a bit. He missed Rose so much, it was killing him from the inside.

''I haven't told you my name yet.'' She turned to him. "I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger." She said and held out her hand. As she did, she saw a sad look in his eyes. He was obviously upset about something.

"Hermione? That's a very uncommon name.'' the man noticed and didn't took her hand to shake it. ''Uncommon," he repeated slowly ''that's right! I was going to find something uncommon." He stood up from the bench.

"And who may you be then?" she asked and folded her hands together.

''I'm the Doctor.'' he said and started walking to the shed.

Hermione herself also stood up and followed him from a short distance. She didn't know why he seemed to be so interested in the shed, in her eyes it was just a normal one, not special or anything. ''I'm sorry, Doctor Who?'' she asked quietly, but loud enough for him to hear it.

"The Doctor. Just that. The Doctor." he said. He enjoyed it when people asked that question and especially when he saw their confused expression. He missed Rose's expression when someone asked it. She always looked a bit amused when someone did.

"Alright." Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. He thought that her name was uncommon, she thought the same about his. "May I ask why this shed caught your attention?"

"Can you keep a secret, Hermione?''

"Depends, if it's about destroying earth, then no. If it's about that someone just killed a fly, then yes." she shrugged. "But well, I can keep secrets, yes."

'It's not about destroying the Earth, but saving it. In fact, that shed is currently holding unknown life and I need help finding out wat is inside. I need to know some history. Are you up for a challenge?" the Doctor looked at her and smiled sadly. Rose would be smiling by now out of excitement. She would've already started helping before saying the answer.

"Saving it? Well, that's a good thing." Hermione was quite relieved. It had been a while since she had to deal with real challenges if you didn't count puzzling with it. So actually she was quite excited about this. "Yes, I'm up to a challenge."

"Then, tell me this. Do you know anybody who could tell me about its history?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know a particular person, but you could check the library where I work. You can use the register to see or there's any information about it in a book." she suggested.

"Where's the library?" the Doctor looked around, hoping that it would be near. He didn't have too much time.

"Just a street away from here." She said and pointed her finger to the left. "It's that way."

"Lead the way." he smiled but it faltered for a second. Again, he was reminded of Rose, who would be running to the library now, who was so very happy to help. He shook the memories away.

"Let's see now." The Doctor said. They had reached the library and he sat at one of the computers, pulling out his Sonic Screwdriver.

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him when she saw the Sonic Screwdriver, but not for long. It tok her a few seconds to remember her earlier years at Hogwarts with magic. Even though she had lived the past years as a muggle, without magic, she still carried her wand around with her everywhere she went. "So, you're a wizard?" she asked.

The Doctor was quite surprised that Hermione didn't ask a thing about his Screwdriver; that was rare. After a few moments of searching through the computer, he came up short. There was nothing important about it, nothing that would draw aliens in. Why were they using it? "No, I'm not a wizard, Hermione." he finally said.

"Have you found anything that answered your questions?" She didn't even know what the questions were.

"No." he let out a frustrated sigh. "I think I better try a hands-on approach. Come on, Rose." The Doctor stood up and put the Sonic in his pocket.

"I'm sorry, uhm.. My name is Hermione, not Rose." she said and raised an eyebrow at him.

The Doctor swallowed hard, now noticing his mistake. "Sorry, Hermione." he said quietly and cleared his throat. "Come on then."

Hermione followed him and remained quiet the entire walk back to the shed. They didn't say a thing and they didn't even share a glare. When they got there, he finally spoke. "Wait here, it might be dangerous."

"I've been through a lot of dangerous situations, I know perfectly well how to defend myself whenever needed." Hermione responded and pulled out her wand. "I've got my own weapon, you see."

The Doctor looked over at her. "You could get hurt."

"_I'm going to ask you again! Where did you get this sword? Where?"_

"_We found it – we found it – PLEASE!" Hermione screamed again. The curse hit her in the chest. It felt like a thousand knifes stabbing you in every piece of your body at the same time. It felt like all the energy was pressed out of you. It felt like the worst feeling on earth. _

"_You're lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault at Gringotts, tell me truth!" _

_Again Hermione screamed out of pain. _

"_What else did you take, what else? ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!" _

_Her scream echoed off the walls upstairs. People could hear it everywhere in the manor. She couldn't give up, she wouldn't give up. She would stay and fight against it , even though she had never felt more frightened. _

_A knife was carved into her arm with strength. The pressure of the sharp point was unbearable. Feeling that her flesh was being split apart made her cry and scream loud. That one word would follow her everywhere from now on._

Hermione woke up from her flashback from Malfoy Manor again. "I've been hurt before, Doctor. And I'm sick of being afraid, I'm sick of being unable to do something." she said.

"Alright then, come on." the Doctor led the way into the small shed, which was flooded with light after he opened the door.

Even though she had spoken with a confident voice, she still felt some nerves. The difference between the Battle and now was that she knew how or what she was fighting, she could prepare herself, now, she had no idea at all.

There was stirring in the back of the shed. "Hello?" the Doctor called out. He felt Hermione taking hold of one of his hands and led her farther into the shed. Even though the room was lid up, it was still hard to see what was happening in the back. Hermione walked on the tip of her toes in the hope that she would see more.

A small blue creature emerged from the darkness of the shed. Small yellow bulbs burst out from its skin. As soon as it saw the two persons it disappeared into the darkness. "Go away.'' It growled.

Hermione had never seen a creature like that before, she had seen many, but not one that looked like this. "What was that?" she whispered and narrowed her eyes so she could see better.

"I'm not sure." the Doctor said uncertainly. "Who am I speaking with?" he addressed the creature.

Whatever it was, it was definitely something new for Hermione. This made her realize how much she had missed adventures, the excitement of fighting against Voldemort. Of course, it had also caused stress and sad moments, but it filled her time. Now working at a library filled her time, together with reading and sometimes walking a bit around. It was just like before she went to Hogwarts, peaceful but quite boring.

"Go away." the creature growled again. The Doctor heard a scream beside him as one of the bulbs grabbed onto Hermione's feet and began to grow tentacles which wrapped around her body. "LET HER GO!" the Doctor screamed at the creature.

Hermione kicked her legs in every direction possible in the hope that she would hit the creature or get free. It took he a while before she remembered her wand. "Stupefy!" she yelled after pointing her wand at the creature which was wrapping itself around her. She felt that his grip loosened and as soon as she could, she took a step back. "It's out of of conscious now." she explained.

There was just one thing that she hadn't noticed. The creature was not alone. As soon as she had gotten free, another one began wrapping around her. And another and another. "Let her go! We'll leave, just let her go!" the Doctor yelled.

The creatures let out a sickening laugh. "No. She is abnormal. Many things we can use her for. You may leave. She may NOT."

Hermione pushed her nails into some of the tentacles. "Let go of me, now!" she screamed and didn't keep still until her legs got tightened together. "You can't use me for anything!"

If only Hermione could get hold of her wand again, then she could use spells or hexes. She tried to bend her arm so she could get at her pocket. After a few awful pains, she could finally slid her hand in her pocket. She wrapped her fingers around the wooden wand. "Let go!" she hissed again.

The creatures wound tighter around her. "Stop!" the Doctor screamed. "Why do you want her?"

The creatures growled. "She is not human. She has powers. She is different. She has proven it with her power stick." the Doctor stared at her, his eyes filled with sadness. Before losing Rose he had had a much worse expression, way more saddened. He knew that she would let go, he knew that she wasn't able to hold on. Now that he had lost her, he wouldn't let Hermione die either, even when they didn't know each other at all.

"I will not help you with anything!" Hermione repeated. It became harder to breathe, so she tried her best to keep on talking loud. "I won't do anything for you, so either you lock me up and I'm being useless, or you let me go so I can be useful for something else."

"We do not need your consent." the creatures laughed in union.

"Use me." the Doctor's voice was alarmingly calm. "I'm not human. Let her go and use me."

Hermione's wand was pointing at the creatures. They hadn't noticed yet. Since she was panicking, it was hard for her to hink of any ideas. "No!" she called out. "They won't use anyone. Expulso!" she managed to keep her wand in the right position. A spark of blue light came from the tip of her wand and hit some of the creatures.

"Stop, Hermione! It's not helping! You're just making them angry!" the Doctor screamed. It was true. The spell seemed to give them more energy and they charged at her, more and more until she was completely covered. They were squeezing the life out of her.

She closed her eyes for a second, but when she opened them again, it was like nothing changed. It was still dark, just like when she had her eyes closed. The tentacles, which were tightened around her, didn't feel as bad as the Cruciatus curse, but it did feel painful. There was nothing she could do at the moment. She could only wait.

"What do you want her for?'' the Doctor asked the creatures.

"We want to squeeze the power out of her. Every. Last. Bit. Until she is nothing but an empty body. No thoughts, no feelings, no memories, no power. We need her to power our ship home. She has much power. More than hundred humans. You must choose! Do you want us to use one of her or hundreds of humans? Choose!" one of them answered.

Hermione had made that decision very quickly already. She would give up her life for one person already, so she would definitely do that too far a hundred. "Choose me, spare the lives of those innocent people." she whispered since she could hardly get more breath. It cost a lot of energy to simply keep her eyes open already. "Spare the.. Spare the others."

"No." the voice of the Doctor was a harsh whisper. He had just lost Rose and he wouldn't lose Hermione too. "Let her go or I swear I will stop you."

If she would've been able to, then she would've yelled no, she would've shaken her head so quickly until she got an headache. She was not worst so many lives. Her breathing got heavier and she gave in by closing her eyes. Even though she still felt the pulling all over her body, it felt relaxed, like when you close your eyes when you're very tired. It feels like you're already falling asleep before trying.

"It's too late." the creatures seemed to be smiling and laughing. They had enough energy now and disappeared out of nowhere. It looked like disapparating, but since they weren't wizards of witches, it couldn't be.

The Doctor ran over to Hermione. Her hands were cold already. "No." he whispered. There was something special about her, she was courageous. Courageous to say that she didn't want to live if that meant that others would die. Courageous to keep on fighting. Courageous to just trust a stranger and come with him. Therefore he decided to take a huge risk. If she really turned out to be that special, then it would be worth it. He kissed her and transferred some of his regeneration energy. "Please work." he begged, nobody in particular.

It wasn't like she expected it to be. When her eyes flickered open, she didn't see a bright light or an angel who stood in front of her like her mother had always told her. At the contrary, it was rather dark around her.

"Hello?'' she called out and stood up. ''Is anyone there?'' she couldn't see much, but she could simply feel that she was alone. Alone in the darkness with nothing around her.

Her lips, just like her hands started to tingle. She didn't know that it was because of the Doctor, she just thought it was something strange. She looked down at her hands and saw that they were fading, just like the rest of her body. The panic she had felt before was nothing compared to this. "What is this?'' she yelled out before her eyes flickered open again, but this time for real.

"Hermione?" the Doctor was still holding her hands, but now he could finally feel the warmth spreading throughout her.

"Hey." Her voice sounded a bit weak and she cleared her throat. "Hey." she said again, but this time more clear and a bit louder. A sigh out of relief escaped her mouth at the sight of the Doctor.

"Oh, thank God. Are you okay?" He pulled her in for a hug and held her tight in his arms.

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him. "I am now." she said quietly. "You saved my life, thank you so much. Is there anything I can do for you? Anything?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't do thanks and I don't let people owe me things." he smiled and let go of her again.

"You don't let me owe you anything. I'm offering it myself, there's a difference. So again, if you need something, ask and I'll see what I can do, okay? It's the least I can do, please, just accept it." Hermione returned the smile.

The Doctor stood up and held out his hand to help her up. "I'll think it over." Together they walked out of the shed without another word. The TARDIS was close and it was time to go again.

"Wait." Hermione said suddenly. "My wand is still in there." she had dropped her wand at the moment that she died. And she had been stupid enough to forget about it when she woke up again. With a quick pass she walked back and immediately saw her wand. To her surprise, she saw that it wasn't broken, just slightly damaged. It felt good to have it with her again, just for safety, but she could also feel that something was wrong.

The Doctor didn't stop. He kept on walking, refusing to look at Hermione. It would be better that way. Better if he didn't say goodbye and better if she didn't get a chance to miss him.

"Hello? Doctor?" Hermione said quite loud when she got back outside. She stood on the tip of her toes and looked around. He wasn't there anymore. Disappointment came over her. She would love to hear more about him, to know who he was, what these creatures were, but she could only get to know that if he hadn't left.

The Doctor was nearly back at the TARDIS when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Hermione. A sigh escaped his mouth, both relieving but also frustrated. He didn't want her to follow him. He just needed to keep going.

"What were you trying to do?" Hermione asked and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "It's rude to leave without saying so, you know."

The Doctor remained silent, avoiding Hermione's eyes.

"Alright then." she bit her lip lightly and looked down at the ground. "I know you said that you don't do thanks, but I still want to thank you. I haven't had a day like this since a few years already. I missed it, I guess. Thank you for that." she smiled slightly. "I should probably stop bothering you right now, yes.. sorry for that."

"Wait." the Doctor smiled. She missed adventure? That was brilliant news. "Want more adventure, eh?" he said and was smiling so bright that his jaw was starting to hurt.

"I would be lying if I said no." Hermione enjoyed his smile, so she smiled back. "Of course, I want more adventure. I've been doing nothing for a few years already. Zero exiting things happened to me until today."

"Then come with me." the Doctor grabbed her hand and opened the door of the TARDIS. He didn't give her any time to respond and pulled her inside. She nearly stumbled but knew how to keep her balance.

"Wow,'' she breathed out ,''this is.. This is.. wow." her eyes had widened as soon as she had walked in. Of course she had seen rooms before that were bigger from the inside, but it still looked fascinating. Especially with the panel and all the buttons.

"She's beautiful, isn't she?" the Doctor patted the TARDIS.

"She?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. It was a police box which was way bigger from the inside and now he called it a she.

"The TARDIS; Time And Relative Dimension In Space. The TARDIS is a 'she'." he said with a laugh.

She walked more inside and kept on looking around. "My apologies then. _She_ looks incredible." she said.

"No problem. The TARDIS seems to like you."

"I feel flattered." Hermione said and smiled. "I like her too. She's nothing like I've ever seen before."

"You should be flattered. She doesn't approve many people, to be honest." the Doctor said and made Hermione actually feel more flattered by saying that.

"Well thank you then, that's very nice."

The Doctor walked all around the panel until he was standing beside her. "Where do you want to go first?" he asked.

Hermione had heard what TARDIS stood for, but she hadn't concluded a thing from it yet. "What do you mean where you want to go first?"

"Oh right, I'm a Time Lord, I can travel through space and time and this is my ship." he smiled proudly. "She can take us to any place, to any time. So, where and when do you want to go?"

"Really?" Hermione asked astonished. "That's amazing!" she thought about it for a while. "the French Renaissance, I think. I've read so much about it, the dresses, the wigs. So extraordinary, but a bit odd too."

"Alright, let's go!'' the Doctor reached across Hermione to turn a knob and stopped short. They were only a few inches from each other's face. He awkwardly pulled back his hand and hit some levers near him. He mentally scolded himself.

Hermione ignored what happened even when she could feel his breath in her neck. "It's unbelievable. I know it's true, that it's real, turns out the younger me hadn't gone mad after all." she said to break the silence and chuckled.

"What do you mean?" he was glad that she started talking about something else.

"Well, you see, when I was younger I sort of dreamt about you. Not really you as person, but you know, I believed that there was someone who could travel to any place he wanted. Then I looked out of the window in the evening and spotted the brightest stars, thinking that that person would be looking at the same ones. I was a little dreamer and when I told my parents, they just looked weird at me."

The Doctor nodded, thinking it was funny that she had dreamt about him. "I have to ask you something.''

"Alright, ask me."

"If you've always dreamed of the stars, then why choose the French Renaissance?" he asked.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Hermione frowned at him. "When you said that the TARDIS could take us anywhere we want, did you literally mean anywhere?"

"Anywhere. Planets, countries, stars, space. Anywhere."

"You can bring me to the stars?" Hermione's eyes lit up and she smiled.

The Doctor started to flip switches, turn knobs and pushing levers. The TARDIS shook as they flew through space until they finally arrived.

"We're there?" Hermione asked and looked at the Doctor.

He took her hand and walked with her to the door of the TARDIS.

"Hermione Granger, welcome to space."

**A/N: **Please let me know what you thought of it! If enough people like it, I'll upload my second chapter soon, thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

Summary last chapter: Hermione met the Doctor and got into a dangerous situation. The Doctor saved her and now he has brought her to the stars.

**A/N:** Yeah, so, I didn't check all of my grammar, so there might be mistakes in it, sorry, but I was too exited. I just wanted to update this story right now. Anyways, have fun reading.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything from Harry Potter or Doctor Who, only my imagination.

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Hermione stepped outside the TARDIS and brought her hand to her mouth. They stood on some sort of platform. It wasn't exactly huge, she could see the other side of it and it flew in the space. It just flew there. All around her see saw other planets, they were still far away but they were closer than they were on earth. There were also meteorites, which were called the stars. But when she looked further, she saw tiny lights and all kinds of colors. It were different galaxies, coloring the dark space around them. Words couldn't describe how gorgeous she thought it was and it was hard to stay calm. "This is the most beautiful view I've ever seen, it's incredible." she said just above a whisper.

The Doctor took a deep breath. He loved it when people reacted like this, but right now he just had one challenge for himself; he can't get attached to anyone. It would only hurt him in the end.

A single tear escaped her eye, not out of sadness, but out of happiness, because of what she was seeing. He had no idea that he just made her feel like the happiest person on heart, or in space for that matter. "Thank you, thank you so much." she said.

"It's my pleasure." he said and jokingly bowed.

Hermione chuckled as he did and shook her head slightly. "I really mean it. Best gift someone could possibly give me." Without a warning, she gave him a hug.

The Doctor was momentarily shocked, but then hugged her back. He hugged her even harder. "I was happy to do it." he said quietly.

They let go of each other again and Hermione looked at the view once more. "Why did you stop using magic?" the Doctor suddenly asked.

"I'm sorry, what? How did you knew I..?" Hermione raised an eyebrow at him.

"I've met wizards and witches in my life before, trust me, I've seen enough. You used your wand, so you're a witch, but you work at a muggle library and you live in muggle London. Why's that?"

"Let's just say that I had quite a big role in defeating a dark wizard and that nearly everyone recognizes me since that day. It felt like I didn't have privacy anymore, so I moved to a muggle place that was still close to home. I decided that I would just start living as a muggle too. Until my eleventh, I never knew I was a witch, neither did my parents, so I grew up like muggle children do. It wasn't too hard to pick that up again." she explained. "But I must admit, it's rather boring to live like that."

"Well, you better get used to it. When I saved your life, I couldn't give you back your powers. You're completely human now." He was a bit unsteady because he didn't know how she would react.

"It won't be too hard to get used to it." Hermione wasn't too shocked or disappointed, she was just a bit sad. It explained the feeling why something had been wrong, why she hadn't felt the connection with her wand like usual when she picked it up. She pulled out her wand. "I won't be needing this anymore, right?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not." the Doctor said sadly.

"Let's wish on it then." Without doubting, she broke her wand into two pieces and handed one part over to him. All her life she had been wanting two things. One was an adventure that she would never forget. After today, that would've been accomplished already, so she wished for the other thing that she was looking for. For that one thing that everyone was looking for. She threw away her piece far away from them.

The Doctor didn't believe in these kind of things. He wanted Rose back, but she would never come back, it was impossible. That's why he didn't wish for her, he would wish for something else even though he didn't believe in it. He chucked the other half far from the TARDIS.

"I guess that's it then. I'm muggle Hermione Granger, used to be a witch, but then I walked into someone and some weird creatures. Luckily, I'm still alive and healthy." she chuckled.

The Doctor didn't respond on that and avoided her eyes to look out into the starry space in front of them. "If you could change one thing in your life, what would it be?" he asked quietly.

Hermione thought about it for a while. There had been a time that she regretted erasing herself out of her parents memories, but it was for their own safety, so she didn't regret that at this moment. So didn't she moving away from the Burrow, from the magical world. "Nothing." she said determined. "Every choice I made, made my life to what it is now and there isn't another situation where I would want to be at the moment than here." she smiled slightly. "What about you?"

He thought of Rose. There wasn't a thing that he could change about that situation. She would always turn out in the parallel universe, no matter what. "No, nothing."

Hermione could see that something was wrong, she didn't know or she had said or done something wrong or that he just thought of a bad memory. She decided that she wouldn't ask him, after all, she just knew him for a few hours.

The Doctor quickly rearranged his face, making it look happier. He just hoped that she hadn't noticed anything.

She acted like she hadn't seen a thing, that would keep things simple. She kept on staring at the view, thinking that she would be able to stay here and look at it forever. No, that was a lie, not forever, but she could for a while.

"What are you thinking about?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing.'' she said. "Well, actually I was thinking about the beauty of this world, of the space." It was partly a lie. She did think about this, but at the same time she wondered why he had looked so sad.

"Is that right?" the Doctor could tell that there was more. He could tell from the way she stood, a bit unsure, a bit doubting.

Hermione bit her lip lightly. "Have I said or done anything wrong?" she asked.

"No, no! Sorry, if it seemed like that."

She sighed relieved and ran her fingers through her hair. "Good, I thought I somehow had, though."

"No, uh.. We should go back to the TARDIS now. The gravity pockets are faltering." He put his arm around Hermione and lead her back into the TARDIS.

"Alright." Hermione said and looked over her shoulder for the last time. She smiled when she saw the view again and said goodbye in her thoughts.

"Well, that was great. Back home, then?" he asked quietly.

"That was absolutely great." she agreed with him. The truth was, she didn't feel like going home at all or returning to her apartment like nothing had happened. But she couldn't tell him that. She had already said too many things and felt like he had done more than enough for her. "Uhm, yes, right, sure." she mumbled.

"Are you okay, Hermione?" the Doctor asked and closed the door of the TARDIS. He wanted her to stay, of course he did. Even though he had forbidden himself to get attached to her, he still liked some company. But obviously, she was okay with leaving.

She looked up at him and slightly shook her head. "No." she admitted. She had felt okay, she had felt way better than okay until he mentioned going back home again. How could she possible get her life back on track after this? After seeing the stars, after meeting the Doctor, after traveling with the TARDIS. It would take months, years until the memory would start to fade.

The Doctor stared at Hermione's sad face. He took her hand. "Then don't leave." He didn't want her to leave. And now, she wouldn't.

"I won't and I don't want to either." A small smile played on her lips. The second option about staying sounded for more better than the going home one.

"Molto bene! Wonderful!" the Doctor gave Hermione a giant hug. "Where should we go first?"

She hugged him back by tightening her arms around him. "I don't know. There are so many places, such a long history but also so much time left." she said and narrowed her eyes. "I think the past would be interesting. I've read all about it in books, but of course I'll never understand it completely without actually being there once."

"We have all the time in the world. When would you like to go?" he stared at her expectantly.

"16th or 17th century, when the people highly believed that witches existed. Of course they did, but they didn't make a pact with the devil like they used to think." she chuckled. "And the funny thing is, is that more muggles were accused than actual witches."

"Why do you want to go there?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"I don't know, it was the first thing that popped up in my mind." Hermione shrugged. "I guess because back then they were suspicious about magic for the first time in history. Just as they were doubting about werewolves and vampires. People back then could be a bit hysterical sometimes."

"Whatever you do, don't stand out too much and don't change things when it's not necessary." He gave Hermione a stern look. "And don't wander off either, stay with me."

"Yes, I understand." she nodded her head quickly. "I wasn't planning on changing anything either, I don't even know what I should change about that time."

"Good. Here we go." the Doctor said excited and pushed some buttons.

Hermione smiled at the Doctor before she held a pipe in case that the TARDIS would shake a lot again.

"If we're going to the 18th century, won't we stand out with our clothes then?" Hermione suddenly realized. Didn't they wear those huge dresses with corsets and grey wigs?

"That's not a problem, I got clothes for every time period. In the back, at the end of the hall is a closet, I'm sure you can find something." the Doctor said.

Hermione loved the style of fashion they had back then. The way woman were treated wasn't right at all, but the culture was so interesting. The rich had all the power and looked marvelous, while the poor ones barely had a thing and wore the same clothes all the time. Cruel, unfair but also interesting. She followed his instructions and indeed got at the closet.

All kind of dresses, suits, pants, shirts, skirts and even hats were there. First she wanted to go with a simple dress, one that the poorer people wore, but she changed her mind. If she could go with a gorgeous dress, then why wouldn't she pick it?

It took her longer to put on the dress than expected. She left out the corset, not thinking it was necessary and she still wanted to breathe. She had picked the dress with the skirt that wasn't too wide, so it didn't look ridiculous. The sleeves had lace just as the neckline of the upper body piece. When she saw herself in the mirror, she burst out in laughing. It was a good think that her hair hadn't lost all it curls yet since everyone wore curls in his hair back then. She put up her hair and straightened the dress with her hands.

"Why are you still wearing that?" Hermione asked when she got back and saw the Doctor.

"I won't stand out." he answered and shrugged.

"Of course you will, just like I would if I wouldn't be wearing this!"

"Actually, you just could've kept on the clothes that you wore before. People don't think it's weird to see others with different clothes. They might think we're from a different country or something."

"So you made me change my clothes, that took me an half hour, for nothing?"

"You wanted it yourself, you were convinced that you would stand out." the Doctor said with a smirk.

"Fine then." Hermione sighed and walked over to the panel. "Oh, and what do you think of my shoes?" she pulled up the skirt of the dress, showing a pair of All-Stars.

"Lovely, suits the dress perfectly." he said sarcastically. "Shall we finally go then?"

Without answering, Hermione walked quickly to the door of the TARDIS and opened it. Instead of ending somewhere near a castle with a lot of nature around it like she thought, they ended up in a huge group of people, all wearing dirty, ripped clothes.

"What is this?" she asked and looked over her shoulder at the Doctor.

"This,'' the Doctor sighed ,''is a vampire sighting. People who are going mad with the idea that vampires actually kill people. That's just a legend, they only kill animals but when there isn't any sign of an animal, then they have to kill a person sometimes. Even though the blood of humans taste better, they don't want to see them die, these creatures don't want to."

"How do you mean? Vampires actually exist? I knew about werewolves, but vampires?" Hermione's eyes had widened and she looked a bit shocked.

"They don't exist in the 21st century anymore. They existed since the beginning until the 19th century. They were all shooed to the north by the people, ended up in the north of Norway. There weren't enough animals and even when they had food, they froze to death. Interesting creatures, won't do a thing if you leave them alone." the Doctor explained and gave her a small push in the back. "Well, let's join them then."

Doubtingly, Hermione walked out of the TARDIS and mixed herself into the others. People did watch at her dress and she wished that she hadn't been so stupid to put it on. Thank goodness that she still wore pants and a shirt beneath it, so she could get rid of it again. The Doctor closed the door behind him and walked next to her.

"And are they here? In this area at this time?" It was hard to see where they were walking since it was dark outside. The torches of the people around them did lit up the way a bit, but not enough to look fully around her.

"Could be, I don't know where exactly we are in France." The Doctor answered and shrugged.

"Excuse me, you are not in France, sir." a woman had heard their conversation and looked a bit confused with her narrowed eyes. She looked like she was perishing from the cold, all shivering and looking very pale. "You're in England."

"I thought you were bringing me to the French Renaissance. This is neither France, nor the Renaissance that is described in the books." Hermione said quietly so only the Doctor would hear it.

"Not only humans make mistakes. And this is part of the Renaissance, it's just a subject that has never gotten much attention."

"So we're with a bunch of vampire hunters then? What are they going to do when they find one? Stab them in the heart or hold a cross in front of them?" Hermione had never believed in vampires, neither did she in ways to kill them. Why couldn't they just shot a bullet at them? It would hit organs and cause damages, so why make it look harder than it is?

"That's one way, actually. Stab them in the heart with a wooden stake. It's one of the things where they can't heal from. Killing with sunlight is the best way, but seeing that it's midnight here, I don't think that will work. You can use silver, although you won't kill them with it. You will just delay their healing system. Carrying a lot of silver will scare them off, though, so they won't attack you. Other ways to kill them are with fire or by simply tearing their heads off their bodies." the Doctor was smirking while he told Hermione this. Her expression got more frightened by the second, hilarious to see for him.

"But… But.. How about the garlic? Weren't vampires allergic to garlic or something?" she said and bit her lip lightly. If there were really vampires here, then she didn't have anything to protect herself.

"No, that's just a myth. Garlic is a natural antibiotic, it actually holds healing powers. It made people think that they would protect against evil. Just something made up by the old Egyptians." the Doctor said and looked around. Nearly everyone wore a necklace made of garlic, it made him laugh at them in silence.

"Well, if I have to believe the books then they do work. I mean, the smell at first warns them that your blood isn't that tasty anymore. Uhm.. At least, if you've eaten garlic. Anyways, I've been told that vampires should have a disease called Porphyric Hemophilia. You have that disease when you have a lack of red blood cells. That's why they need blood to survive." She was about to explain more but got interrupted by the Doctor.

"So, what's the conclusion, then?" he said and was obviously impatient.

"If a vampire ingests blood that is full of antibacterial allicin, they will be essentially killing off much of the bacteria that they need to live. If the books are right, then garlic protects you against getting bitten, but it will also most likely heal you completely if you got after all." she explained.

"You do know a lot about it for a person that has never believed in vampires until now." The Doctor noticed but let it go again. She talked about books all the time, she just had a lot of basic information on a lot of subjects.

"We're surrounded by them!" Someone screamed and an icy scream followed. "They've taken my daughter! Where is my daughter? Give her back, give her back you monsters!"

The People around them were unsteady and most of them started to scream. Hermione didn't get the panic, they were prepared right? Wasn't this a vampire hunting, wasn't their goal to walk into vampires and kill them? Maybe they hadn't expected a real vampire, maybe they thought, just like her, that it was just a myth.

She stood on the tip of her toes so she could look over the people at the front of the group. There was more panic there than where she was. She was about to sigh relieved, thinking that there was nothing to worry about, when she felt a cold hand over her mouth. Fingers were tightened around her arms and she got dragged away. She was unable to scream or do something, they were too strong.

"Hermione, stay with me, will –" the Doctor started but saw that Hermione didn't stand next to him anymore. "Hermione?" he called out. "Hermione, where are you?"

* * *

"Let me go!" Hermione yelled when the person stopped pressing his hand onto her mouth. Her arms were still held by others. When she looked down, she saw that her dress was completely ruined. It was covered with mud and some parts were ripped open.

"Not very smart, walking there without any protection, don't you think?" someone said and stepped towards her into the moonlight. A pair of grey eyes stared into her brown ones, they stood angry but were also mixed with sadness.

"Oh, you're long dead before you can actually kill me." She meant to say it loud, but her voice was shaking terribly.

"Sure, of course I will, but you're coming with me, miss."

"I'm not going anywhere, bring me back!" Hermione demanded and watched the small fires that weren't that close to them anymore.

It wasn't just the fact that something grabbed her that made her scared, it was also the fact that they were in the woods while it was midnight. There were vampires and if she wasn't wrong, then she was taken by one. The dark grey eyes with the pale skin, could be possible but she wasn't able to know for sure without seeing their teeth or any other proof.

"You're going with us, whether you like it or not. We don't need your approval." the person answered and dragged her with him again. It was what the other creatures had said too, they didn't need her approval.

She tried to scream, but a hand was placed over her lips again, what made breathe heavily through her nose. She could barely move, that tightened was his grip on her.

Instead of going more away from the vampire hunters, they actually got closer again. They walked around them, until they got in front of the group, still hiding behind trees and bushes though.

* * *

"Hermione?" the Doctor pushed two people away so he could move through the crowd quicker. "Hermione!" he kept on calling, hoping to hear a response or to see her somewhere. He thought that she would stand out with a huge dress like that, but she wasn't there. She wasn't there anymore. Both of his hearts pounded loud against his chest, his breathing got heavier, he was sweating, showing signs of panic. There was no sign of her. "Hermione!" he yelled again, but it mixed up with the rest of the screams. Everyone was panicking and screaming. Everyone was worried and scared.

* * *

The bun in Hermione's hair got looser and looser until it was saggy and her hair hung over her shoulders again. She had let it grow longer since the Battle and it suited her. With her hair in front of her eyes, she could barely see a thing until she got pushed right in front of the people.

"Silence!" the man behind her hissed and immediately the screaming stopped. Some people were still whispering but it stopped as soon as he repeated itself: "Silence, I said!" They stood on some sort of rock, so they were higher from the ground than the others, making it possible for everyone to see them.

The Doctor saw it happening right in front of him. Hermione lay in the arms of a stranger, his hand holding her back while she leant over it. She looked frightened. He saw how the stranger, or the vampire, moved all of her hair to the other side of her face, leaving her neck clear.

His touch felt like ice on her skin and made her shiver uncontrollably. The tips of his fingers were caressing her neck and later started to follow her jawline. She saw that everyone was looking at her. Her glare crossed over the people, looking for the Doctor. Their gazes locked as soon as they found each other. Everything in her, mentally, screamed for help and he could see that.

"Well, well, you can see how easy it is to simply take someone away from you without noticing it." Another vampire came out of his hiding place and stood next to the other now. "Imagine how easy it would be to kill her." he said and smirked when he saw the frightened faces.

Hermione carefully looked away from the Doctor to look up at the vampire who was holding her. She immediately regret it. He was looking straight at her with a thirsty expression, his hair all messy and his tongue licking his lips. As she looked back, she didn't see the Doctor anymore. Panicking, she wandered her glare over the people, but she couldn't find him. Where had he gone?

He had left her, he had probably gone off with the TARDIS already, without her. He would leave her here for death, he would leave her in the 18th century with nothing but her thoughts and a ripped dress. She was now so scared, that her eyes were filling themselves with tears. She was either going to die, or they would make her a vampire. Both were bad, but she preferred the death one. She would rather be death than being half alive, only living on blood.

Again, she felt the vampire touching her neck, but not with his fingers, with his lips. He brushed them over her jawline, up to her face where he pressed a kiss on both of her cheeks. Hopelessly, she kept on searching for the Doctor, but instead of finding him, she only found people looking worried and scared at her. The kisses stopped as soon as he placed his hand on her cheek and turned her head to face him. She could see his fangs very good now. _This is it_, she thought, _I will die here and now. Nobody will ever remember me, nobody will know where I am._

Hermione closed her eyes, preparing for a stinging pain in her neck, but it never came. She heard some sort of breathing mixed with shrieking, she couldn't exactly place it. When she opened her eyes quickly, she saw something horrible, something that she would never forget.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Just to let you know: In the episode ''the Vampires of Venice'' of Doctor Who, it says that the last vampires on earth has died. I know that Hermione has a lot of knowledge, but I made her ask things so that it was clear for the reader. I also know that she has been in touch with vampires, but this is an AU. I don't follow much of the storylines, but when I do, I follow the one of Doctor Who. \Thanks for the reviewing, I understand the confuse and for anthraquinblue, you said that muggle Hermione was boring: just wait and see. I can promise that I've got a lot of plans which will definitely make her more interesting. It may not happen straight away in this chapter, but it will later in the story.

Summary last chapter: Hermione and the Doctor went back in time to the 18th century. They mix in in a group of vampire seekers. Hermione gets caught by vampires and the Doctor is gone.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except my imagination.

* * *

The eyes of the vampire were lid up by fear. They were widened, she could see burst veins in his eyes, all red and terrifying. It seemed impossible, but it looked like his skin got even paler, like the last living things inside him had died too. He faltered on his legs and collapsed on the ground, not yet out of conscious but that wouldn't take long anymore. It was then when she noticed the wooden stake jutting out of his chest. He bit his lower lip hardly, burying his fangs into it, coloring it red with blood. It was hard to look at him without feeling guiltiness, pity but also anger. His eyes flickered open and close the entire time, his eyeballs rolling uncontrollably in their eye socket until they closed for the last time. His body stopped shaking and his limbs lay limply in the right position.

The sight of a dead person, or vampire, wasn't exactly something Hermione wanted to look at. She slowly took a step back from the body, assuming that he was dead. And he was.

* * *

_the Doctor looked at the scene happening in front of him. The vampire, his fangs, the small kisses, Hermione. Hermione. She looked more astonished than actually scared. Her hair seemed to be a little bit more bushy than usual since her bun had loosened. The dress was completely ruined, but he wasn't worried about that. He was less concerned when Hermione looked straight at him, all of the sudden. Their eyes were locked and he could see her expression changing a bit to relief. He knew that he was showing signs of relief too, but wasn't sure or she could see that. Her eyes weren't exactly calling for help, something told him that she never would, but at the same time she did need it. As she looked away from him again, the Doctor started walking. He didn't stop looking at Hermione for a second, he kept his gaze on her the entire time. _

_A woman, who looked like she was around 30 years old, nearly ran in front of the Doctor. One hand was holding a stake while the other was made to a fist. Her knuckles and fingers had turned almost white from the strength with what she was holding the stake. The Doctor could only see her back, but from her attitude he could tell that she was angry. Hermione was right in front of them, what made it easy to watch both of the women. His companion was glaring at the crowd, her gaze following the faces of every person. She was obviously looking for him, but that wouldn't be necessary since he would be there soon. The woman in front of him was heading for the exact same place as he was. It was hard to keep up with her. With quick passes, the Doctor was able to at least follow her. _

_She looked so determined. She had a goal and she would accomplish it. That was the idea that the Doctor got when he saw that woman. Although he hadn't seen her face yet, he was sure that he hadn't seen her ever in his life. The way her chocolate brown hair fell just over her shoulders could tell, just as the way she walked. She didn't walk gracefully, she stamped with her feet. She didn't rush in silence, she rushed while she breathed heavily and groaned sometimes. She wasn't calm, she was frustrated and angry. All of that together didn't bring up any memories or ideas. She was just a person who he had never met before, right?_

_The woman stretched her fingers and started to push people out of the way. Just like the Doctor, she didn't stop looking at the scene in front of them. She kept her eye on either the vampire and Hermione. Soon enough she was there herself, but made sure that they couldn't see her. She stood behind them, like a lion waiting to attack his or her pray. _

_The Doctor kept his distance, just watching what would happen. He knew, from the moment he saw the woman, what she was going to do. Hermione would be safe because of her. _

'_I will not let this happen again', the woman thought. 'I will not let them kill someone else, someone innocent.' Without any doubt, she attacked from behind. Quickly pushing the stake into his heart with a lot of force, like her life was depending on it. She did not hear any screaming, like she thought that would happen, but she did see the life 'flying' out of him. She did see him taking his final breath. She did see his eyes closing for the last time._

* * *

Who was that woman? Hermione looked up from the body without a soul to see her. The woman's hands were shaking, even though her expression showed that she wasn't scared or shocked. She was full of adrenaline. Hermione continued taking steps back, away from the dead vampire, but now mostly getting away from that woman.

"Hermione," the Doctor was finally able to say something. "Hermione, come here." he continued.

She didn't listen. Really, she didn't since she couldn't even hear what he was saying. Of course, she had seen dead people, lots of dead people, before in her life. But the fact that she was nearly killed, by a vampire, still had effect on her.

"Hermione, stop." he said louder now. "Come back here, now. Stop walking." he sounded desperate, panicked almost.

The sand under her feet creaked while she walked backwards. Hermione saw the Doctor, she saw the way his eyes stood, she saw how his mouth moved as he was talking, she even saw his shoulders moving up and down as he took deep breaths. Why was he worried? She was safe now.

"Hermione!" the Doctor yelled and started walking at first, but fastened to running a few seconds later.

It was too late, though. Her final step made her fall off of the, sort of, cliff they were standing on. Her eyes widened when she couldn't feel ground anymore. She could feel the wind blowing through her dress, her hair. Panic came up. Unable to breathe, to yell or to grab hold of something was the reaction of her shock. She was falling, falling of quite a high cliff. She wouldn't survive this. Again, she was in life danger because of going with the Doctor. Hermione closed her eyes as she prepared herself for the crash.

* * *

Why wouldn't she listen? Where was she now? What was she doing? The Doctor rushed to the edge of the cliff. All he did during his way to it, was thinking about what happened. Thinking back in time.

_He placed it around her neck, the disc-shaped device that would transport her to Pete's universe. The parallel universe. It hurt him so much to see her leaving, just flashing away from him. But he had to, she had to be safe with her family. It was better that way. _

"_I think this is the on-switch." a very familiar voice was heard by the Doctor. Rose. Why did she come back? She knew that this wasn't safe, but she was also stubborn so he should've known that she would return._

_The Doctor walked over to her and grabbed both of her shoulders. "Once the breach collapses, that's it. You'll never be able to see her again, your own mother." he tried to be stern, but he couldn't with her. _

"_I made my choice a long time ago and I'm never gonna leave you." Rose responded. It made him feel both happy and sad. She didn't want to leave him, but she would someday. She would, perhaps, be able to be with him for as long as she lived, what was forever for her, but it wasn't the other way around. He would lose her at some point. _

"_So what can I do to help?" _

"_System's rebooted. Open access." the computer told them. _

_Rose didn't look away, as stubborn as she was, she waited for a response. He gave in after a few seconds. He could use some help, and some company. So, why not?_

"_Those co-ordinates over there, set them all at six." the Doctor pointed at the computer. "And hurry up!" he sounded a bit stressful, nearly angry, but it wasn't anger for her, it was for the situation they were in. _

"_We've got Cybermen on the way up." Rose said when she looked at the computer._

"_How many floors?" he rushed over to her. _

"_Just one."_

_The computer showed the Cybermen. They weren't with many, but with enough to 'delete' one of them. There wasn't much time left, they had to send them away into the void. _

"_Levers operational." the computer let them know and the Doctor smiled slightly._

"_That's more like it, a bit of a smile. The old team!" Rose smiled too. _

"_Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake." The Doctor straightened his back and walked to Rose. _

"_Which one's Shiver?"_

"_Oh, I'm Shake." It were just the simplest things that she could say to make him smile, to make him feel happy in the most dangerous situations. _

_They both go to the walls after the Doctor gives Rose on of the Magnaclamps. They stand on the opposite of each other, both facing another wall next to a lever. _

"_Press the red button." he told her, and so she did. _

"_When it starts, just hold on tight. Shouldn't be too bad for us but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Void stuff. Are you ready?" he said like it was the easiest thing to do. He trusted the situation and expected it to be fine. He had never been more wrong. _

"_So are they." Rose said when she saw Daleks coming. _

"_Let's do it!"_

_They press the levers upwards and then quickly take hold of the magnaclamps. _

_After that, it happened so fast, he couldn't imagine how quick. The computer went offline again, the lever went down at Rose's side. Eventually she did it, she pushed it upwards again. The Doctor watched in horror. She looked terrified, only holding on to the lever now. She showed the expression and he felt it. _

_She couldn't hold on any longer, even when he told her to, begged her to, even prayed for a second that she wouldn't let go. She was being pulled towards the Void. Panic and fear came over her as she was. Pete appeared and caught Rose in his arms. One more desperate look over her shoulder, just to look at the Doctor, before disappearing again. This time she was really gone, this time she wouldn't return. _

He lost her and now he was losing Hermione too. Or actually, she was already gone. She had fallen off a cliff, no human could survive a fall from that height. Carefully he looked over the edge. A part of him wanting to see or she made it, while the other part was afraid to see her body lying there.

Nothing. Nothing but a few bushes and a lonely tree were down there. Quite a distance away from them were farms, just the countryside. She had fallen, but she wasn't there. Where was she then?

"Hermione?" the Doctor called out. "Hermione, are you there?"

No answer.

"Is anybody out there? Hello?"

Again, no response.

* * *

_Darkness came over Hermione. There wasn't a crash, she didn't feel the ground under her. She didn't feel her bones breaking or hear a smash. It was rather odd that the only thing she felt was a bit of pressure around her arms, back and legs. Would she see an angel this time when she opened her eyes, would she see a bright light or wouldn't she see anything at all?_

_Her eyes flickered open. Everything around her was faded, but the image got sharper the longer she looked and after she blinked a few times. Where was she? She was lying somewhere. Yes, that's why she saw everything on its side. She carefully, and very slowly, sat up straight. Her head was hurting a lot, what made it hard to think about what happened. She had actually forgotten a few things. She could see a table in front of her, she sat on a couch, there was a wooden floor and the walls were white. There hung a few paintings on the wall, all different from each other but they were painted in the same style. How did she get here?_

"_Hello?" she tried to speak loudly, but her voice was cracky and shaking. She cleared her throat. "Hello? Where am I? Doctor?" _

_When there wasn't a response, she decided that she would look around although she wasn't sure or she could walk. There was just one way to find out. She ran her fingers through her hair and slowly moved her weight to her legs and her feet, first trying to feel or nothing was wrong. And nothing was, at least, not physically. _

_She was able to stand up and to walk around. The wood was squeaking beneath her feet as she did. There was noise from the room in front of her. The door was open a bit, she could see a bar of light coming out of it what showed that it was very light inside the room. She didn't know whether she would walk in, or go back to the couch and wait for someone to come. She had been a Gryffindor, she was brave, she had fought against many so she wouldn't go back. Actually, she had no idea at all why she was slightly scared. One final, deep breath and she pulled the door open. _

"_Good morning, I already thought I heard something. Hungry?" a voice came from behind a refrigerator. She was in a kitchen._

_Hermione recognized the voice very well. She knew immediately to who it belonged. _

_The redhead stepped away from the fridge to look at her. "Is anything wrong? Didn't sleep well?" he asked. _

"_Ron? What are you doing here?"_

* * *

"Where is she? Where is she? Where is she?" the Doctor asked himself while pacing up and down.

"She.. She isn't..?" the woman who had killed the vampire took a step in the direction of the edge and also couldn't see her.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Catherine Ridler, who are you?" she answered.

"I'm the Doctor. Why did you kill this man?"

"Pretty obvious, isn't it? He almost killed that woman, so I had to kill him before it was too late. She's your friend, right? You can thank me later."

"And you had to take away his life for that, you couldn't just pull him away? It had to be killing?" the Doctor was not happy with the fact that the vampire was dead. All he wanted to know was why he did this, but he wouldn't be able to ask now. Really, the other vampires had left for as far as he knew. They ran away from the moment that his body fell.

"It did safe her life, you can be happy about that." Catherine said.

"Safe her life? Safe her life? She's gone, she's in danger. She is probably dead so I wouldn't call it 'saving' at all." he had to try his hardest to keep his voice low. "You're coming with me, you're going to help me to find her."

"I don't have a choice, do I?"

"No."

* * *

"How do you mean? I live here, we live here. " Ron raised an eyebrow to show that he was confused.

"No, I don't. Maybe you do, but I.. No, I was with the Doctor, I fell, I.. What?" Hermione sighed deeply and shook her head. "We broke up, years ago, I moved away from the Burrow, away from the magic. How is this possible?"

"Hermione, what are you talking about? The Burrow, magic, the Doctor? You've obviously bumped your head against something. Take a seat and calm down a bit, alright?" he said and closed the door of the fridge.

She did what he told her to and sat down on a chair behind the table. "Don't tell me you've never heard of the Burrow. You live there, your family, the Weasleys."

Ron shook his head and breathed out a chuckle. "No, I don't and they don't either." he walked to Hermione and pressed a kiss on her forehead, placing his hand on her cheek. "Nightmares again, not?"

"No, no, what is going on? This is not funny, Ron!" Hermione grabbed his hand and pushed it away from her.

"You've gone mad again." he sat down beside her in another chair.

"I haven't. I was just with the Doctor, there were vampires, I got caught by them, but he was killed and I fell off a cliff. Then I woke up here. Who's doing this? Your brothers thinking they're funny again?" she raised her voice. "I mean, sorry, your brother George.. not brothers.."

"This happens all the time. You wake up, you forget about your life and think you were a witch, that I have brothers, that this is all a joke, but this is real. This is your life, Hermione." Ron was starting to get frustrated. He grabbed her left hand and held it on front of her. "Look, we're married. We've been for five years already."

"We married after the Final Battle?" Hermione's eyes widened when she saw the ring.

"No, there never was something like a 'Final Battle'. You keep saying that, every morning, over and over again. We married after we graduated. Try to remember, please." he was nearly begging her. His eyes stood extremely sad.

"After we graduated at Hogwarts? So we did after the Final Battle, that was around five years ago, right?"

"No, Hermione, please." he stood up and took her hands in his, pulling her up too. "We graduated at a normal high school in this small town called Elgin. We now live at the coast, we have since five years."

Hermione's eyes were watering. "No, this can't be true." she said quietly. "Doctor, please help me. Why are you doing this? Doctor?"

"Who is this Doctor? You've never mentioned him before."

"He's a time traveler. We travelled through space and time in the TARDIS which looks like an old police box. He helps people, saves planets, but also aliens. He does the right thing. Merlin, I must be dreaming."

"A time traveler, but of course. What's next? Fairies, mermaids? I'll repeat it one more time, this is your life. Whatever you think your life is, is what you dream. Every night you dream about this.. alternative life of yours, but that one's fake. You said you fell from a cliff, didn't you? How is it possible that you're here without any injury? You woke up here before you hit the ground, not?" Ron tried to explain her. It was so hard to keep on doing that. He loved her more than any other person in the world, but she kept on forgetting her life with him. She forgot that she loved him too.

"I woke up here before that, yes." she said quietly, trying to understand. "But it's just.. it can't be." She shrugged.

"Please, try to accept this quicker the next time. If not for me, then for her."

"For her? For who?"

"Look down, Hermione, at your belly."

Why hadn't she noticed that before. Why hadn't she noticed that she was pregnant? "I'm pregnant?"

"Yes, you are. We're going to be great parents. You're on seven months already." Ron smiled slightly.

"No, this is a lot to take in, I don't believe you. I don't believe any of this. Not this house, not this relationship, not this whole damn life. Don't mess with me, Ron, the Doctor will get me out of here." Hermione took a few steps back and walked out of the kitchen, very confused and having no idea where to go.

"Whatever you do, don't go to sleep." Ron hurried himself after her. "I can't tell you this again in one day, it takes so much energy and patience to do it over and over again. You don't know what it's like to tell you each morning what your real life is, to see that you've accepted it at the end of the day but when you go to sleep that you forget all of it again. It's so hard."

"Then don't and you don't have to either. Soon enough I'll be gone and you'll be gone because you're not real, because none of this is real. Now, if you will let me, I'm going to wake up again. In the real world this time." she said, as stubborn as she was.

"Alright, see you tomorrow. Good night, sweetheart." Ron responded quietly.

"No, you won't and don't call me that ever again." she said before lying down on the same couch on which she woke up. She had never fallen asleep more quickly than then.

* * *

"So, what are we going to do first then?" Catherine asked.

"Simple, we're going down there, looking or she's around. Maybe there are some clues. We have to find her and quick, before someone else does." the Doctor asked.

"Getting down there?" she chuckled and shook her head. "Didn't think so. Nobody goes down there, not anymore. You're not from around here, are you?"

"I'm not, but why? Why doesn't people get down?"

She sighed deeply. "Many people did before. There's a cave down there, what they call the mystery cave. Everyone who goes in, well, they never come out. Maybe they stay there, maybe they find another way out, but they never return. We never hear another thing from the people who go in there. If your friend went in that cave, then there's no hope, I'm afraid. Sorry."

"There's just one thing you've forgotten there. I'm not like everyone else, I can get out, and if Hermione's in there, then I'll take her with me." the Doctor said determined. He walked away from the cliff and looked around. "How do I get there?"

"Oh no, I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to help you getting yourself killed." Catherine crossed her arms in front of her chest and watched him.

"Yes, you will. And do you know why?"

"No, why?"

"Because you've lost someone down there, didn't you?"

"I did, yes."

"Do you want me to lose someone too? There's still hope, Catherine. Even for him or her, who knows? The people may be stuck there, they're maybe still alive. We've got to try!" the Doctor grabbed her by her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. "Alright?"

"Emmett, his name was Emmett and he was my son. He wanted to play there with his friends, but none of them came back. Do you really think that we can save them? How do you know that we'll get out?"

"I don't, but I do know that we can try and that there's hope. So, let's go then." the Doctor smiled slightly at her before letting go. "Lead the way."

Catherine nodded and started walking. She was more frightened than ever, but she had to try this. She had nothing to lose since she had already lost everything and something told her that the Doctor had also lost many things.

"You ok?" he asked when he saw how sad she looked.

"I'm fine, just thinking about.. stuff." she answered.

"Don't worry, we'll find them." he looked up at the sky which was showing many stars. "Don't worry, Hermione, I'll get you out of there." he whispered and hoped to death that that would happen.

**A/N: **Sorry that this chapter is a bit shorter than the other two, I'm planning on making the next one at least 5000 words, I don't like short chapters like these at all. I just felt like ending it here, creating a bit of a cliffhanger, but not too much. Anyways, reviews are always welcome!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Thank you all very much for reading and following this story! I didn't expect so many people to actually read a crossover like this one. I had to push myself to continue writing, especially now that it's summer and I like doing other things more. Anyways, I'll try to update sooner!

Summary last chapter: The vampire gets killed by a woman called Catherine. Catherine and the Doctor are on their way to a cave under the cliff since they think Hermione is there. Meanwhile Hermione woke up in a house and heard from Ron that what she thought her life was, was fake.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter and Doctor Who, only my imagination.

* * *

Catherine and the Doctor got closer to the cave as it was starting getting light already. The Doctor guessed it was around 5 in the morning, telling from the fact that it was a summer night. The sand creaked under the shoes of the Doctor and it was starting to annoy him after a few hours of walking already. There was a soft and quiet wind through the trees and leaves every now and then and the both of them hoped that the wind would get harder since it was rather hot.

"We're nearly there." Catherine said, breaking the silence that had been there for too long. 'I'm still not sure or we should do this. We're probably going to end up as the others who went in that cave."

"How did the others end up then?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "Nobody ever came out that cave, right? How do you know what happened to them, then?"

"I don't, but I'm pretty sure that they're dead. What else could possibly cause them to never come back?" she answered, shaking her head slightly.

"Maybe they get lost, who knows. Maybe there's something underground leading them back to another civilization. I shouldn't directly assume that they're dead." he said, not wanting to hear more negativity from her. Hermione was not dead, that couldn't be possible, at least not in his thoughts.

"Yeah, right, another civilization, I think so too." Catherine said sarcastically and rolled with her eyes. "Anyways, we're here."

"I can see that myself, thank you." the Doctor responded. It was obvious that the two wouldn't become best friends, but they soon had to cooperate so they had to start being serious and nice to each other.

"You're very welcome." she sighed deeply and ran her fingers through her chocolate brown hair. They both stopped walking when they stood in front of the cave, watching inside and trying to see something. That was impossible, it was completely dark there even while it was light outside.

"Well, let's go then, allons-y!" the Doctor said, quite excited to do a new research in this 'extraordinary' cave. Who knew what they would find inside? He was the first of the two who started walking inside.

"Are you mad?" Catherine called after him. "Shouldn't we first get a torch or something? It's dark in there, we can't see a thing without a light source."

The Doctor looked around a bit, brushing his hand against the wall to find something. "Aha!" he said, feeling something smooth, a bit like plastic.

"What?" the woman quickly walked inside, following the Doctor. "What did you find?"

"I have no idea, but let's try something." he answered, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and pointing it at the wall. As soon as he pushed the button, there came sparks out of the wall. Well, not exactly a wall, but a light switch. "Lights?" he said, narrowing his eyes when the whole cave was lit up by lamps hanging from the ceiling.

"What.. How's that possible?" Catherine's eyes widened at the sight of the sudden light.

"Does it matter?" he asked. "At least we're now able to see something." he said and started walking again. It was weird to him, though. Electric light like this during the 18th century. That wasn't possible. He decided to let it go since he only wanted to find Hermione at this point, the rest wasn't important.

The two walked further into the cave in silence, not saying another word. The only sound they heard were their footsteps and some sort of dripping noise. The Doctor listened carefully in the hope to hear other people. Just a voice, other footsteps or a small cough was enough for him. Anything that made clear that they weren't alone there was good, it would give them more hope.

"Shhh, stop." the Doctor demanded, standing still and placing a finger on his lips.

Catherine immediately stopped walking too, looking around quite confused, not knowing what he meant.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and turned around, facing the exit of the cave. It was dark behind back there while it was just light moments ago. He then realized that only a short distance in front of them was lit up, the more they walked, the darker it was behind them and the lighter it got in front of them.

"That doesn't promise any good." Catherine said and swallowed nervously. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to go on, of course. What did you think? We have to find Hermione and your son, we will not let them down, Catherine." the Doctor answered and shook his head slightly. He didn't want to admit it, but he started to feel a bit worried.

* * *

Hermione had her eyes opened for just a few seconds before closing them immediately. The sudden light had caused, together with the previous events, a huge headache. The moment that she woke up in this universe, she had forgotten about Ron again, about what happened before she ended up here. She felt that she had cried; her eyes were stinging a bit and her cheeks were wet. Of course, she didn't know why.

She rubbed her eyes and yawned while stretching her legs. She opened her eyes again, covering them with her hands from the light. The more she blinked, the less bright the light got and the more her eyes got used to it. She sat up and looked around her. Where the hell was she? She helped herself up and felt that the ground beneath her was a bit moist. She was standing on a rocky soil. A cave. It looked like a cave, although she couldn't explain the lamps. Her hand slid into her pocket to grab her wand, but she realized she didn't have it anymore when she felt it was empty. It made her feel more unsafe than she already felt. She didn't have anything to defend herself with.

The Final Battle had taught her to stay calm in situations like this, to fight whenever needed and to defend yourself at all times. And especially to not call for help at unfamiliar times. This was definitely unfamiliar to her and she wasn't planning on checking or she was alone by yelling, that wasn't needed either since a noise behind her betrayed that someone, or something, was there.

Hermione was tensed and swallowed nervously before turning around, just in time to see something shimmering disappearing behind a huge rock. She took a deep breath before slowly starting to walk in that direction. Her nerves were stabbing her inside her belly and it was annoying Hermione terribly.

The sound of her footsteps were echoing through the cave and Hermione hoped that it wasn't too loud. She tried her hardest to walk as quiet as possible by tip-toeing to the place where she had seen something. Her back was turned to the rock and she leaned lightly against it, her feet moving slowly to the other side. After waiting for a few seconds and calming down herself, she was brave enough to look behind the rock. Nothing, except for a new path was there. That path was different, the ground didn't seem to be wet, but it was pretty clean, looked like I was made of iron. Inside it was very bright, it was nearly blinding her eyes. The walls were made of mirrors and the ceiling was very white. When Hermione narrowed her eyes, she was able to see the end of the road. If she wasn't wrong, then she could see a door. If she was going to investigate this cave anyways, then she could better start here while looking for an exit.

* * *

Catherine was the type of woman who was quickly nervous, but when she had a goal she would go for it without hesitating. Right now, she had a goal; finding out what happened to her son and the others who went into that cave. There was almost no hope for her, she was already in trouble. By following the Doctor, she had gotten herself into it. By going into the cave, she knew that she wouldn't return. Deep inside, she didn't believe it, but that wasn't enough to keep her chin up.

The Doctor could see that Catherine was having a hard time with keeping up with him. She only looked down and dragged herself with her. There wasn't a sparkle in her eyes and it was then when the Doctor saw that she was a real mother, that her emotions were bringing her down.

"How long has Emmett been here? When did he disappear?" he asked.

Catherine sighed deeply and looked up from the ground. "Eight years and a few months. He was only 15 when he turned out missing. If he was still alive, he would have turned 24 last week." she answered, struggling with upcoming tears.

The Doctor understood why she didn't have hope anymore, eight years was a long time for humans. He still believed that there was a slightest chance that her son would be fine, but he had to admit that the chance was very very small.

"I'm 42 now, was only 18 when I got Emmett. The people from my village didn't accept it. A girl who's not married but pregnant anyways. I was a shame for my family, my parents disowned me. Was quite hard back then, but I'm still alive, still here. I moved to this place two years after Emmett was born and told the people here that he was my nephew, that his parents had died so that they would accept me in their community. And so they did and here I am." she told the Doctor even though he hadn't asked for any more information about her. She just wanted him to know this, felt like she had to tell.

"I'm so sorry, must've been hard indeed." the Doctor said, nodding his head once. Compared to the loss he had had, this was just a small loss, but for a human, it was huge. "Can you tell me something about Emmett? What was he like?"

"Emmett Ridler. He was always happy, was one of those less people who didn't care about what others thought about him. Stubborn too, especially when he got older." Catherine breathed out a chuckle. "Walked away sometimes, didn't want to listen all the time, but he was.. He was just.." she sighed and swallowed loudly. "He was my son and I loved him."

"Love him." the Doctor corrected her. "Don't talk in past tense when you're not sure whether he's dead or not."

"Fine, I love him." she said and shrugged. "Do you really think that after eight years he can still be alive?"

"I most certainly do think that. " the Doctor answered.

* * *

Hermione's breathing was quiet and quick, her heart was beating faster the more she walked towards the door. When she looked at her left, she saw herself in the reflection of the mirror. Her hair was a huge mess, nearly looked like a birds nest, her eyes stood tired and her skin looked like she needed a refreshment, just like her clothes were completely ripped open. The sleeves of the dress weren't there anymore, and the skirt got way shorter than it originally was. It was easier to move this way, though.

A cold shiver went down her spine what caused her to feel uncomfortable. She stood still and held in her breath in the hope to hear something.

"So you're awake now?" A voice came from behind her and Hermione turned around immediately. At the sight of the man, she quickly walked to him and pushed him against the wall.

"Who are you?" she asked with a threatening voice. "What are you doing here? What do you mean I'm awake now?" her eyes were locked with the ones of the man.

"I'm Philip, I sort of live here and you were out of conscious for the past seven hours." he answered, shaking his shoulders wildly so Hermione would let go. "You might want to be a bit more gentle, because I was the one who caught you when you fell off the cliff and kept you safe here. This is not a safe place to be if you hadn't noticed that yet."

Hermione let go of Philip's shoulders and took a step back. "I fell, right." she said quietly. She hadn't even thought about that again since she woke up. "Why do you live here? I don't call a cave a nice house or anything."

"I got my reasons." he simply answered and shrugged once. "You get used to these surroundings the longer you're here. I'm sure you won't mind living here anymore either after such a long time."

"I'm sorry, what? I'm not going to live here, no way. I have to find the Doctor, I have to get out of here. Where's the exit?'' Hermione asked.

Philip chuckled quietly and shook his head. "You won't find the exit when you need it, only when you don't. But you can't find the entrance when you don't need it, only when you really do. Since you want to get out of here, there's no way that you will."

"Sort of like the Room of Requirement, you can only get in when you desperately need something." Hermione said to herself. "But how did you catch me then? I mean, I fell outside the cave, how did you get out?"

"Like I said, when you don't necessarily want to get out, you find exits all the time. The first year here, I kept on looking for a way out, but I never found it. The more I accepted my new place, the more often I found an exit but I never left. I have to do something here, can't tell you what though. Anyways, I went outside to see the sunlight again like I sometimes do and you fell down, was just in time to catch you. I brought you inside, since I wanted to get back." he explained, looking down at his hands.

"You brought me back inside? Are you mad? Didn't it occur to you that I might wanted to get out again? I'll be stuck here forever!" Hermione exclaimed.

"I couldn't leave you outside, it's not safe there, neither is it here though, but at least I would be with you."

"What do you want me to say? Oh, thank you great saver, thank you for saving my life." she said exaggerated sarcastically.

"Well, a thank you would be nice, yes." Philip said with a smirk.

Hermione supposed that he was right and she sighed. "Fine, thank you." she said quietly. "Where does this door lead to?"

"You don't want to go there. Been there once, that's enough for a lifetime." Philip sort of answered.

"What can possibly be that bad that's behind that door?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest since she wanted an answer.

"If you don't want to die, then I highly recommend not going in there, not even to take a quick look. Death. Death is waiting behind that door." he said and turned around. "Are you coming?"

"Where to?"

"You'll find out soon."

_Great_, Hermione thought. _I am in some sort of cave, I can't escape and now a man called Philip will lead me the way to an unknown place. Fantastic. This is going perfect._

"Fine," Hermione answered ,"I'll come." She was just about to start walking when she heard heavy, loud footsteps behind her.

"Run, now!" Philip shouted as he was already running ahead of Hermione. Hermione didn't take the time to look around and ran after him, as quick as she could.

The sound of their own feet landing on the ground was echoing through the cave, she heard them repeating what made her confused about whether they were alone or not. When she heard the loud footsteps again, she knew that something was following them. For crying out loud, she had helped Harry bloody Potter to defeat the Dark Lord, she had fought against Death Eaters and snatchers, she had been tortured by Bellatrix and now she was panicking. The thoughts of what she had been through in her life already seemed to calm her down already. She was just being stupid.

* * *

"D'you hear that?" the Doctor asked, also hearing the noise of something heavy running. He could feel it in his bones that it was moving.

"I feel it too." Catherine said, swallowing hard. "What do you think it is?"

The Doctor fastened his pass, now running towards the noise. He had an idea about what it could be and if he was right, then it might be too late for Hermione already. Then it was definitely too late for Emmett too.

Despite Catherine's good condition, she still had a hard time keeping up. The path inside the cave had many smaller paths and a lot of intersections. The Doctor simply followed the noise without checking or Catherine was still there and that was the cause of the two losing each other.

"Doctor?" Catherine shouted. "Doctor, come back here!"

Of course, he wouldn't listen. He was concentrated on the metallic sound, he was determined to find Hermione, whether she was dead or not. Right now, she was all that mattered since he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

"Hermione!" he called out a few times while he kept on running. He was willing to take the risk that whatever was in this cave would come after him since he was drawing attention. "Hermione, where are you?"

* * *

At the sound of her name, Hermione turned around. She didn't see the thing that was following them, but she could still hear it. She was just about to shout, her mouth was already opened, when she got pulled away by Philip.

"Quiet." he demanded her and kept on dragging her with him. It wasn't smart to call back at this point. Philip was actually taking advantage from the man who was yelling. At least he would drag the things away from them, so that they were safe. Safe.. Just for now.

Philip pulled Hermione behind a rock and kept his hand on her mouth. "In the years that I've been here, I've seen people enter this cave, but I never saw someone leave. I didn't even see them again, they disappeared. Or at least, that it what I thought at first." he said and for a second it looked like he was having trouble with keeping himself together.

"Later, I realized, that they didn't disappear. They simply," he thought about how he was going to explain this to Hermione ,"they simply changed. Both inside and outside." While saying that, he removed his hand from her lips so she could respond.

"They change? I know spells to change things, you can easily change them back. No problem." Hermione kept her voice low and shrugged. Obviously, she wasn't getting the situation that was going on.

"That's not what I mean. They change into metal men, their voices change. They don't even remember who they were or still are. Like their emotions were pulled out, they only have an instinct. That instinct is changing others into them or killing people if it's not possible." Philip swallowed. As he did, he looked nervous and frightened.

Hermione stared at him as she tried to understand what he just said. It didn't make sense. Metal man who change humans into others of themselves. "Why would they do that? There's no logic involved."

"No?"

"No," Hermione rebutted, tired and frustrated.

"It actually _does_ make sense. You see, when you don't have feelings, you won't doubt if you have to kill someone. This is a game of might, of power, Hermione. They're planning something and they obviously need a lot of their selves to accomplish that goal." he said. "I just don't know what exactly they are."

Hermione stood up, eyes widened and a small gap between her lips. "Philip, these metal men you're speaking of, they're coming our way." she said and pointed at the path behind him.

Philip also stood up and took her hand once again. As she had told him, there were three Cybermen coming their way. They hadn't see the two yet, but they were nearly close enough to see the humans.

"Follow me." he demanded her and started walking quickly. He made sure that his feet landed softly on the hard surface so his footsteps wouldn't be loud and they wouldn't attract attention. He hoped that Hermione would follow his example and she did. When he looked at her, he saw her nearly running next to him. It seemed natural for her, she looked graceful as she ran but the worry in her eyes disturbed the picture of her.

* * *

"Stop yelling, you idiot." Catherine hissed and brought her finger to her lips to show him to be quiet. It was annoying her that the Doctor wasn't thinking brightly. Of course, he wanted to find his friend back but he was making a lot of noise, which wasn't necessary.

"Catherine, I have good and bad news. The good news is that I just heard footsteps without the metallic undertone, so there are more people here. The bad news is that there are Cybermen in this cave. I assume that you don't know what they are, well I'll tell ya. Cybermen are creatures who, if you're compatible, change you into one of them. They remove the emotions and place you in a… In a metal armour. Yes, I suppose you can put it like that. If you're not compatible, they'll kill you or as they say it: they'll delete you." the Doctor said quickly and pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. He scanned his surroundings and checked the results.

"And what may that be?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. It didn't look alarming or dangerous, but it did look weird to her.

"A Sonic Screwdriver." he mumbled. His lips were partly parted and a sigh escaped his mouth. "There's less radiation than I expected."

The Doctor started walking again and Catherine followed. The Doctor was exhausted when Catherine and him had walked for another hour. Guilt was all he felt. If he hadn't brought Hermione here, then none of this would've happened. _I involved Hermione with this and now she's in danger_, he thought and sighed. It was a shock to find out about the Cybermen and it didn't make sense why they were here during the 18th century.

"What are you thinking about?" Catherine asked when she noticed the sad look on his face. She had seen it quite a lot already but she hadn't said something about it yet, well, until now then.

"I'm thinking about _her._" The Doctor decided that his answer was enough for her to figure out who he meant. He opened his mouth to say another thing but was interrupted by an icy scream. It wasn't hard to recognize the voice after what happened in the shed.

Without looking at each other, Catherine and the Doctor started running towards the scream at the same time; both very sure that something was terribly wrong. They didn't care about the noise they made anymore. Even though Catherine thought that she didn't have anything to lose, she still wanted to help the Doctor since, unlike her, he did have someone to lose.

* * *

Philip had been so sure. He was so sure that the path they were taking was the safest one to the place where he slept. It hadn't crossed his mind that this time there would be Cybermen on the way.

By the time that he noticed that something was wrong, it was too late already. He wanted to turn around, take another path and as he did he saw something reflecting the light, something silver.

"Shit." he whispered and felt that he was starting to shake. Not only behind them, but also beside and in front of them were Cybermen. They were surrounded.

"You are compatible." one of the Cybermen said while he took a step forward.

"Compatible?" Hermione asked and looked confused at Philip.

"Compatible for them. The humans that went into this cave.. They are.. They are them, Hermione." His shaking voice came as an respond.

Hermione slid her hands in her pockets, desperately searching for her wand but it wasn't there. It was somewhere in space, broken into two pieces. When she realized that, it was already too late to do something else. Hard arms grabbed her tightly and a scream escaped her mouth. It was to alarm the Doctor, obviously.

"Let me go!" she yelled and tried to get loose. There was no result. The arms just tightened around her and she was pushed forward, forced to go into the direction they wanted her to go. Hermione didn't even take the time to look or Philip was also captured, or he was following.

She noticed that they were at the same door as they were earlier. As Philip had told her; death was hiding after that door. It was clear where they were going: she was going to walk towards her death, her end. Another scream and another attempt to get free and again no result.

The door was opened by a Cyberman and she felt a push in her back and she had to start walking again. There was a bright light behind the door, like she was going to heaven already. There was a slight pain in her shoulder and when she turned her head to look, she saw that there was a needle in her arm. The needle was pulled out of her skin quickly again and instead of keeping on seeing the bright walls around her, she saw everything turning black in front of her eyes.

* * *

"Hermione? Hermione! Oh, there you are." someone said. Hermione could hear the concern in the voice. Even though she hoped that it would be the Doctor, she knew that it wasn't him. His voice was too different from this one.

When she opened her eyes, she didn't see the dark hair of the Doctor, like she already thought, but the ginger hair of Ron. This time it was different. This time she could remember the last time that she was here. The last time she had witnessed that she didn't remember a thing except for the Doctor and that she was a witch. According to Ron, every time she woke up, she had forgotten about her 'real' life with him, but this time she could remember everything that happened the time before.

Quickly she looked down at her belly and found that it was swollen. Pregnant just like before. Her ring finger was showing a ring that she recognized from before.

"You had another nightmare, 'Mione. Please, don't be scared, I can explain everything. You're not a witch, there's no –" Ron started but was interrupted by Hermione.

"I know, I know. You are trying to convince me that we're married, that I'm pregnant, that I'm no witch and that the Doctor doesn't exist. But you can't Ron. I know that this is not my life." she sounded so sure of her case, so determined but deep inside she could feel the doubt. It was so confusing to her.

Ron was just as confused as Hermione was. In the long time that he had to tell her each day what her life was, this was the first time that she remembered it. "You.. But how.. I.." he stuttered and shook his head slightly.

"I don't know, honestly. I only remember the time when I told you about the Doctor. You said that I never said anything about him before that time. That's the only time that I can remember." she said and hugged Ron out of the blue. It was meant to comfort him and it didn't mean anything to Hermione. "If you don't mind, I'm going back to my real life. I'm going back to my dangerous and exciting life where the Doctor will save Philip and me. My life where, I hopefully, will travel with the Doctor until my end." she whispered in his ear.

* * *

Catherine and the Doctor had finally found the place where the Cybermen kept Hermione and Philip. They entered the bright room and had to cover their eyes from the light. After a minute or so, they were used to it and were able to look around. For as far as they could see, there weren't any Cybermen around. The floors, the walls, the ceiling, almost everything was right. In the centre of the room there were two beds; the ones you also see in hospitals, but there was a slight difference. The people on the beds were chained. Their wrists were stuck in iron handcuffs which were tightened to the sides of the bed. Their ankles were also chained so it was impossible for them to escape.

"Hermione." the name rolled easily over his tongue like each time he said her name out loud. He recognized the wavy, brown hair everywhere and rushed to the bed. He cupped her cheek when he was close enough and saw that she was dreaming. It wasn't hard for him to see that she wasn't enjoying the dream. He had to look away from her when he heard sniffing besides him.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked when he saw that Catherine's cheeks were wet from the tears that were falling out of her eyes. She stood next to the other bed, the one where a young man was lying on.

Both Hermione and Philip were out of conscious. The injections the Cybermen had given them limped their muscles and made them fall into a deep sleep. The stupor had different effects on each person. Sometimes they could sleep for a day, others woke up after an hour. The difference between Hermione and Philip wasn't too big. Philip woke up pretty quick. That was by the time that Catherine was holding his hand with wet eyes.

"It's him, it really is him." she kept on repeating. When she saw that his eyes were opened, she was even more sure. It were his eyes that betrayed who he really was.

"Emmett, it's me. It's Catherine.. Your mother."

* * *

**A/N:** Okay, so, this was not my best chapter ever, ugh. I actually strongly dislike this but I felt like I had to update. It's been so long since my last update and I'm so sorry! I kept my promise though, the chapter is 5000 words long so I'm glad about that. I promise that the next chapter will be better. I might add a bit romance to the story in chapter 5, you'll see soon enough. It won't take me another month for a new chapter. Anyways, follow, favourite and/or comment if you like. I'm going to continue writing now. See ya! x


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** So, I don't know or any of you actually read these notes, but ok. I felt like writing again after finishing chapter four but after that, I just didn't have that feeling anymore. School started again and homework came back into my life, so I'm a bit busy. I'm so sorry for not updating soon. Anywho, have fun reading chapter 5 and my apologies for not reaching 5000 or 4000 words. It's a short chapter.

Summary last chapter: Hermione and Philip get captured by Cybermen. They get chained to a bed and Hermione 'dreams' about Ron again. When Philip wakes up, Catherine confirms that it's her son Emmett.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter and Doctor Who, only my imagination.

* * *

By the time that Hermione opened her eyes she wasn't in the cave anymore. Neither were the Doctor, Catherine and Emmett. The dress that she had worn, which was completely ruined because of the past events, was replaced for a silk top and a pair of jeans. The top softly chafed against the small cuts and wounds she had incurred what caused them to hurt a bit. She was lying under white sheets in a soft bed. With no idea how she had gotten there, she sat up and ignored the upcoming headache.

"D-Doctor?" she tried doubtingly and looked around the room. The walls were lilac colored and there was a wooden floor. An old, classic but yet small chandelier hung from the ceiling creating a soft light with a slight yellow glow. At the other side of the room stood a table with incense. The scent of it was soft and it reminded her a lot like the one of the Amortentia potion she once smelled in her sixth year. It was almost exactly the same: freshly mown grass, new parchment, spearmint toothpaste and something she didn't recognize. It was definitely not the scent of Ron's hair. She would've known it if it was. She had no idea what it could be but she guessed that it was something her unconsciousness created.

When she thought about it she realized that this room was the bedroom she had always wanted. The walls had her favorite color, the smell was delicious, it was very bright and she couldn't forget that it was pretty classic and calm.

"I see that you've finally woken up. It was about time. Well, you can't really predict it, but it took your body long enough to get rid of the injection." a very familiar voice sounded.

"Doctor," Hermione breathed out, feeling relieved. She looked up at the door to find him standing in the door opening. "Where am I? What happened?"

"I've taken care of the Cybermen with the help of Emmett and Catherine. You're in your room in the TARDIS. Well, you didn't really have a room yet but the TARDIS created one that you would love. After all, she quickly knows what people like or disgust. So this is sort of the room that you would want, right?" he said and added a small, but concerned, smile at the end.

"It's very lovely here. She definitely knows what I like, yes. But Cybermen? What are Cybermen exactly?" Hermione narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Oh, right. Cybermen were those metal men who had captured you and Emmett. They gave you the injection that made you pass out. If Catherine and I wouldn't have been in time, you would've been turned into one of them." the Doctor sighed deeply and looked down at his shoes. He had been so close to losing her. "Catherine is the mother of Emmett. She is also the woman who killed the vampire earlier. And, like you probably already knew, Emmett is the man who was with you. He saved your life from what I've heard from him."

"Thank you, Doctor." she responded and closed her eyes. "You saved my life.. Again. I don't know who Emmett is, but I do know that Philip helped me. He caught me when I fell of that cliff. Have you seen him? I hope he's safe and alive."

"Emmett Philip Ridler. Emmett is Philip. He didn't tell you his first name because everyone from his village knew it since he disappeared many years ago. He thought that you were from the same village and if he would tell you his name, you would probably freak out or something. Well, that's what he thought anyways. He is safe and very alive."

"Where is he now? I need to thank him for everything he did." Hermione said and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. When she stood up, she could feel that her legs weren't supporting her very firmly but they were strong enough to hold her up.

The Doctor quickly took a few steps towards Hermione and put her arm over his shoulder so she could lean on him. His arm was around her waist for extra support. "Come on, I'll bring you to Catherine and Emmett. They're still in the console room but they're about to leave."

They didn't walk very quickly so Hermione wouldn't fall. They made it without any accidents into the console room where Catherine and Emmett were talking quietly. Even though they had already spent two hours in the TARDIS, they still couldn't believe that it was, how they called it, 'bigger on the inside'. The Doctor coughed to let them know that Hermione and him were there. Catherine and Emmett looked around. When Hermione looked closely at the two, she could see their cheeks glimmering a bit, probably from tears.

"Philip.. No wait, Emmett." Hermione said and smiled slightly at him when she released herself out of the arms of the Doctor. "Thank you for everything. For saving my life, for staying with me in that cave." she thanked him and gave him a hug.

The Doctor watched the two talk a bit. He didn't like to admit it, but seeing them laugh and smile at each other made his blood boil. He wouldn't exactly call it jealousy, although that was absolutely it.

Before Catherine and Emmett said goodbye to Hermione and the Doctor, Emmett took Hermione's hand and kissed it. "Maybe I'll meet you in another life. Until the next time I see you." he said with a smile and left the TARDIS with his mother. The Doctor noticed that Hermione's cheeks were a bit red and he didn't exactly like that.

Hermione turned around to face the Doctor. "So, are you still going to explain me what exactly happened when I wasn't awake? How you defeated the Cybermen, how we escaped out of the cave." she asked.

The half hour that followed the Doctor answered her question with a lot of details. He told her that there was a particular point where all the electricity and power of the Cybermen came together. The whole bunch was kept together by one switch. It sounded easy: if you would turn it off, then the spirits inside the metal armors would be dead, but it wasn't easy. First the Doctor had to clear the room, he had to bring Catherine, Emmett and Hermione to a save place. Since the switch was actually some sort of self-destruction, it would cause an explosion which would be very dangerous if you would be close to it. With his Sonic Screwdriver, he was able to delay the time until the explosion a bit so he could get away in time. Not only the Cybermen, but also their base was destroyed. There was still the question how the Cybermen had gotten there in the first place. They shouldn't be in the 18th century but yet they were. It was because of a portal to their main-ship. Of course, the Doctor had taken care of that too. When he had turned the switch, the electricity that would cause the destruction was led through the pipes and the portal to the mains-ship. That electricity would come out to the heart of the ship, like the heart of the TARDIS. Once it's destroyed, the ship and the creatures in it would be gone for good. The explosion had destroyed both of the ships and all of the Cybermen that were there.

Once the Doctor had finished his explanation, he received a hug from Hermione. At first he thought that it was just a hug meant as a 'thank you', but when she didn't let go and he heard sniffing, he realized that she needed comfort.

"It's fine now, Hermione. We're all safe and the Cybermen aren't there anymore." he said and awkwardly padded her back. He had a lot of qualities but comforting someone wasn't one of his best.

"I know, but that's not it. People risked their lives to safe mine. You put yourself in huge danger to safe the people who lived near that cave. You could've died, don't you see that." she responded quietly and buried her face in his shoulder.

"I can't die, Hermione. I can regenerate. My body can die, not my soul. When my body is seriously damaged, I regenerate and my body is replaced. I'm still me, but with quite a different attitude and of course a different look." the Doctor said and pressed a kiss on the top of her head. "You need to rest a bit. I'll help you back to your room so you can sleep."

* * *

Once Hermione was asleep, the Doctor had some time alone to think about what happened. If he had found Hermione too late he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself. Ever. He knew that he saved her and that she wasn't seriously injured or anything, but he had put her in great danger. It was his all his fault. For a moment he thought about what would've happened if he had never taken her with him. It would've been so much simpler, so less complicated. He knew that he was selfish, he always needed someone to come with him and Hermione had crossed his path when he was alone. If he actually cared about her, then he should bring her home where she would be safe. The only problem was that the idea of it was already killing him.

The Doctor peeked his head around the corner of the door that lead to Hermione's room. At the first sight it seemed like she was sleeping peacefully, but the Doctor could see very well that she was having a nightmare. Her eyebrows were slightly furrowed and her breathing was a bit too quick for a normal dream. An idea crossed his mind. If Hermione had an open mind, he could look inside her head and see what she was dreaming. Of course it wasn't any of his business, not to forget that he would infringe her privacy if he would actually do it. He would only look for a short time, after that he would wake her up. It was a plan to him.

* * *

Before the Doctor entered her dream, Hermione woke up in her dream in a red armchair. It was warm, she saw flames coming out of the fireplace. She was wearing a knitted sweater, jeans and boots with fur on the inside. Everything referred that it was winter there. When she looked up, she wasn't surprised to see Ron standing in the door opening.

"Hey," Hermione said quietly and swallowed nervously ,"what day is it today?"

"It's the 25th of December." Ron answered. His whole expression betrayed that he was happy to see Hermione, but it also showed that he was confused.

"It's Christmas?" she asked for a confirmation. "But the last time I was here, it was October or November. How's this possible?"

"You're always here, Hermione. You just don't remember that you were here. A month long I had to tell you the same story each day. I had to tell you that we were married, that we're expecting a daughter, that there's no such a thing as magic or the Doctor. "

"Does that mean that I'm on eight months, now? With the pregnancy, I mean." she sighed and shook her head lightly. "I'm sorry, I'm never ever going to accept this situation. We broke up so long ago because we fought the entire time. I'm not pregnant, this is simply a nightmare. I have to ask the Doctor or he can do something about it, maybe he can make this stop."

At this point, the Doctor leaned his forehead against Hermione's and cupped her cheeks so he could watch the dream. When he looked, he saw the situation from not a huge distance. It was like he watched from the other side of the room.

"I already called a Doctor. I know that you don't want a Doctor to take a look at you, but it's for the best. He can help you, he can solve this problem." Ron wanted to add something, but was interrupted by the doorbell. "Well, there you have him."

Hermione quickly stood up from the couch and shook her head. "No, Ron. I don't want a Doctor, I'm fine, I'm healthy. I'm the only thing or person that is perfectly normal here. You are fake, this house is fake, this life is fake. This is not happening, it's just a dream, just a nightmare."

"Who says that this other life of yours isn't the dreamworld. Why would you think that is your real life while this one makes way more sense?" Ron said before he held open the door for the doctor to come in. What he said, made Hermione think. He did have a point, but she refused to believe him completely.

The doctor walked further into the room after he had taken off his jacket. "Hello, I'm doctor John Smith and you must be Hermione Granger." he said and held out his hand for Hermione.

Hermione's lips were parted and her eyebrows were furrowed. The dark, messy hair, the nose, the voice, the lips.. It was him, it was the Doctor. "This is the Doctor." she said and looked at Ron.

"Yes, I know, he can help and –" he was interrupted by her again.

"No, he is _the_ Doctor. He is the time traveler, the Time Lord. He's my Doctor, I mean, not my Doctor but you know what I mean. It's him, Ronald."

Ron sighed and shook his head slightly while he looked at doctor John. "I told you she said things like this. Is there anything you can do?"

"Hermione, I'm John Smith, not _the_ Doctor, just _a_ doctor." John told her with a concerned expression on his face. It was the first time that he saw something like this.

"No, no, no." she said and took a step towards him. "You're the Doctor, you're him. You're lying to me, why are you lying? Please. You remember me, you remember Hermione Granger. You remember the TARDIS and the Cybermen and the cave, you saved me, you know me." Her voice was shaking terribly and tears were sliding down her cheeks.

"We can do a brain scan so we can see or something's wrong. Also, I recommend a psychologist because even if we find something, she won't accept it very easily." John simply ignored everything that Hermione had said, what made her cry even more.

"Doctor, I don't like where you've brought us. Let's leave again. I assume the TARDIS is outside. Let's go somewhere else, like two thousand years in the future, I want to go there." Hermione tried even though she knew that John wasn't the Doctor.

"Hermione, let's go to the hospital. Let's do that scan. It's for your own good." Ron suggested and looked concerned at his wife.

She shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest. No way that she would come with him. She sighed ,"No, I'm not going. I'm perfectly fine."

Before anyone could respond, she shut herself out. She pressed her eyes closed and stopped listening to the voices and other sounds around her in the hope that she would wake up in the TARDIS again, in the hope that she would be with the Doctor.

The Doctor, who was watching her dream at first, had fallen asleep already before he could see that a copy of himself was there too. He had been tired for quite a while and didn't have the time to sleep. There were so many things to do, to see and to safe that he choose those things over other things like sleeping. It didn't matter since Time Lords don't need a lot of rest, but they definitely need a bit. He was now catching up all his hours of being awake.

By the time that Hermione really woke up, after many attempts to, she couldn't believe her eyes. The Doctor was curled up in a ball next to her in her bed. Questions occupied her thoughts. Why was he here? When had he gotten here? What was he planning to do here? Doesn't he have a bed in his own room?

The Doctor looked peaceful, it didn't look like he was having a nightmare. It actually looked like he was having a good dream since there was a small smile playing on his lips. The sight of that made her realize that she shouldn't wake him. Since she was traveling with him, she hadn't seen any sign of him sleeping at night or sleeping ever. Carefully, she stepped out of bed and made sure that she didn't make too much noise or movements that could disturb his sleep.

* * *

"Rose, get back here! Where are you going?" the Doctor called out in his dream. Just like everybody else, he almost never noticed that he was dreaming so he didn't notice it now either. He was running down a hill and Rose was far ahead of him.

"I don't know! I have no idea where this goes to!" Rose yelled back and smiled cheekily at him. That was one of the things he missed the most about her, her beautiful smile that made him want to smile too.

He was about to fasten his pass when he heard someone else's voice screaming out his name ,"Doctor! I'm right here!"

When he turned, he saw no one less than Hermione standing from quite a distance behind him. "Hermione?" he said doubtingly.

"Yes silly, who else?" she laughed a bit and shook her head slightly, showing that she thought it was funny.

"What are you still doing there?" Rose asked, what made the Doctor look at his left again. "I thought you'd follow me?"

"Yes, yes, I'll be right there," he answered, not really paying attention to her anymore since he was very confused. Just like dreams could be strange, so was this one. In a second, both of the girls were right beside him. Rose at his left and Hermione at his right. They were both chatting pretty loudly.

"Doctor!" "Are you even listening to me?" "The TARDIS is this way, you know. We should leave now." "I thought we would go and see everything on this planet?" "Doctor, where are you with your mind?" "Let's go, allons-y, remember?" "Oh come on, I haven't got all day. Unlike you, I only have a short amount of time to live." "Is something wrong? Are you okay?" "I don't want to stay here for too long. This place gives me the creeps." "You're a bit pale, Doctor." They just kept on talking while the Doctor looked straight in front of him, not at one of them. It was pretty obvious that Rose couldn't see Hermione and the other way around. It was suddenly clear to him. He knew he was dreaming, he knew that he was asleep but unlike humans he didn't wake up the moment he realized that.

"Where were we heading again?" he asked, just to be sure.

Rose and Hermione answered at the same time. "We were going to visit some creatures you knew from your fourth regeneration," Rose said while Hermione said ,"We were going back to the TARDIS."

Like they had counted down, they both held out their hands. "Are you coming, or what?" they said, again exactly at the same time.

It was even more clear now. It was _the_ decision that he couldn't make. It was the decision that he wasn't able to make at all. It was either Rose or Hermione. He had loved Rose for so long, his hearts belonged to her, he knew her so well. But she wasn't there anymore. He couldn't go back to her. And then there was Hermione, the woman who he thought was very interesting and clever. The woman who he was starting to get attached to. The woman who, in his mind, was starting to get more than just a friend. The thought of Rose just held him back, just stopped him from doing anything stupid. It was such a hard decision. It seemed impossible, but he had to. With a deep sigh, he took one of their hands and received a smile from the person he choose. It was one of the most beautiful smiles he had ever seen in his life, what confirmed that he had made the right decision.

* * *

**A/N:** Review please? I want to continue with this story but I don't feel like a lot of people actually read it. Ugh, it doesn't encourage to keep writing at all. Follow to keep updated, just know that because of my small amount of spare time, I won't write a lot.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** It took me way too long to write this chapter, I'm so sorry! Like you can see, this chapter is the shortest chapter so far. I have a schedule for my chapters and what happens in them, so don't worry, the next chapter will be longer since a lot more will happen.

Summary last chapter: Hermione has a dream about Ron again and the Doctor appears in it. Though he's not the Time Lord she knew there, just an ordinary doctor who doesn't know her. When she wakes up in the TARDIS, she finds the Doctor asleep and leaves her room. The Doctor has to make a choice in his own dream. It's either Rose or Hermione.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter and Doctor Who, only my imagination

* * *

It had been a long day for Hermione. Since the Doctor was asleep, she had taken the chance to look around in the TARDIS. Not any room, except for the console room perhaps, could compare with the huge library she had found later in the afternoon. It was like heaven to her and immediately she started to collect books she wanted to read. If someone would enter the library, they wouldn't be able to see her since a stack of books stood in front of her on a desk. Normally she would've been so happy to spend the whole day there, but now she was getting a bit worried. She hadn't seen the Doctor for hours, it was killing her, and if she had to be honest then she wanted to have another adventure.

With a deep sigh, she stood up and made her way out of the library with the idea that she would come back to read again. There wasn't any sound around her while she walked around the TARDIS, it was actually a bit creepy. No other noise than her footsteps and the echo of it. Even in the cave it hadn't been this quiet. Just as she was starting to get frustrated, she heard her name and even better, she heard the Doctor's voice.

"Hermione?" the Doctor called out once. He wasn't really looking for her yet, since he had just woken up.

Hermione could tell that he was close because of the volume of his voice. She simply followed the sound and turned around a corner where she found the Doctor with his back turned to her.

"Hello, Doctor," she said happily and relieved at the same time. She walked over to him and lay her hand on his shoulder since he hadn't responded. "Doctor?"

When he did turn around, she wished that he hadn't. His eyes which were usually filled with happiness, which were usually bright and sometimes glistered when he found something amusing, now stood sad and grey. They looked lifeless like the Doctor wasn't really there. The corners of his lips were turned down and his whole expression betrayed that he was sad and tired. He looked worse than ever.

"What happened? Are you alright?" she asked with a concerned look on her face. She was pleading with her eyes in the hope that he would notice it and tell her. She knew that it was hard to get information out of him, especially when it was about him.

"I'm doing great, thank you," he said but knew that Hermione didn't believe him. He didn't feel like acting to be alright, to make her believe that he was perfectly fine, he just wanted to be left alone. And so it was.

Hermione hadn't bothered him all day, all night and not even the day after that. She had been quiet, she hadn't done anything except for reading in the library, she hadn't seen the Doctor for a long time either. The state that the Doctor was in when she found him had scared her a bit, had made clear that he needed some time alone. When he would've figured out what he needed to figure out, then he would come to her, she knew that.

The doors to the library opened and the Doctor stood there as his 'normal' self. His hands buried in his pockets, a smile tugging on the corners of his lips and his chin a bit lifted up. The old him was back again. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

Hermione stood up with tears in her eyes, not knowing she would be so happy to see him like that. "Of course I'm ready. I'm always ready," she answered.

"Well, let's go then. Allons-y!"

* * *

The Doctor and Hermione had now been traveling for a month already. They had new adventures, visited new planets, defeated more enemies. Hermione had seen the Daleks for the first time, had developed even more feelings for the Doctor and kept on having the dreams where Ron appeared in. The Doctor was overthinking his choice almost the entire time, discovered new things about Hermione and kept himself from falling asleep as much as he could.

"Did you see his face?" Hermione was laughing softly. They had just stepped out of the TARDIS and a little boy had saw them appear. His expression was priceless to her even though she had seen a several variations already. The Doctor had promised to send her to her present time to Rome, but they ended up in a museum in Japan.

The Doctor laughed with her ,"Yes, priceless. Never gets old. You know what I just realized?" He didn't wait for an answer and turned to Hermione. "Today, one month ago, I saved you from that creature in the shed and we started traveling together. It's kind of like our 'anniversary', isn't it?" he said nonchalantly with a chuckle.

"True!" She thought about it and found he was right. "Happy anniversary, Doctor." She smiled and stood on the tip of her toes so she could press a quick kiss on his cheek. "That one was for not getting you an anniversary present," she explained.

"Oh.. Uh.. Happy anniversary. I didn't exactly get you anything either." His cheek burned where Hermione had kissed him and he hoped that she wouldn't notice.

"Don't be silly, Doctor!" she said and shook her head quickly. "You've given me so much more. Enough for an eternity long with anniversaries."

The Doctor was about to respond when a call disturbed their conversation. "Security, stop there!" a man yelled at them.

Quickly, like they had agreed on it, they grabbed each other's hand and started running away from the guard. The loud footsteps behind them betrayed that they were being followed. Hermione could only laugh about it instead of worrying like she always did at Hogwarts.

They didn't get caught a lot, but now they did. They were enclosed by guards and before they knew it, they were handcuffed and led to another room in the museum. Hermione guessed it was the office of the owner.

"We'll be with you soon after we informed our boss. Don't go anywhere," one of the guards said with a chuckle. Apparently he thought it was funny. "Right, it's not like you can go away."

Once the man left, The Doctor whispered to Hermione, "I need my Sonic Screwdriver.. I can't exactly get it, seeing as how it's in my jacket pocket. Could you get it for me?"

''Sure, of course I can.'' She turned her back to him, so her hands were pointing in his direction. While looking over her shoulder and leaning half against him, she was able to slid her hands into his pocket. ''Alright, I got it.'' She tightened her fingers around the Screwdriver, afraid to let go of it since she was distracted by the Doctor, and quickly took a step away from him again.

"Thanks, 'Mione. I'll take that", he said what made Hermione smile. He had called her by her nickname and it had sounded way better than when Ron had called her like that.

It only took a few second to get them both out of their handcuffs. "Now, let's have a look around, shall we?" he suggested, with a laugh.

''Yep,'' she replied shortly and folded her hands together. "Let's see what else there is in this museum."

The Doctor used his Sonic Screwdriver to get out of the locked office. They didn't use the same door as the one they came through the first time, but exited through another one.

They searched through the room, coming up short. There wasn't a lot to discover there, like the had expected. As a warning, they heard footsteps coming closer. Quickly, The Doctor grabbed Hermione's hand and led her into a small closet.

"Shh..." the Doctor whispered, sort of telling Hermione to keep quiet and to stay still, which wasn't too hard since they barely had space.

Hermione felt the nerves contract in her stomach, she was just a bit tensed. She breathed in and out through her noise as quietly as possible so she would hear what was happening outside the closet. "They're gone!'' a voice yelled. ''What do you mean they're gone?'' a lower voice asked. She bit her lip as she felt that she could burst into laughing.

The Doctor took deep breaths, trying to slow his breathing. It was hard considering Hermione was pressed up against him and her hair was tickling his face. The Doctor was afraid that any moment, they would began searching the room. It wasn't like they had a plan or anything. The TARDIS was quite far away from where they were and he didn't want to hurt the guards since there wasn't anything suspicious going on.

It got quite musty in the closet. It was only filled by warm air and the two people standing there didn't make it any better too. Hermione prayed in her thoughts that they would be able to leave soon to get some fresh air. She leaned with her face to the doors of the closer, her ear against it, trying to hear something.

The Doctor couldn't hear anything beyond a few muffled voices, growing louder by the second. The Doctor edged closer the door, leaning over Hermione in the process, flashing her an apologetic smile. Despite his many different attempts to hear their exact words, he couldn't. He hoped Hermione had better hearing than him and maybe she would hear something he didn't.

If she would've concentrated then she would've been able to hear what the two were saying. She just looked at the Doctor and smiled back at him warmly. Her own sigh shook her up, though, and made her focus again. All she could hear were single words. "Find.. Lock.. Warning!" The voice sounded angry. "Sorry.. Anything.. Again." It was a rather soft voice that she hasn't heard before.

Both of The Doctor's hearts skipped a beat. _She's just my companion_, he reminded himself as Hermione had smiled at him warmly. The smile sent shivers down his spine. _Don't get attached_, he warned himself. He could hear angry voices on the other side of the door but he couldn't quite make out their words.

Hermione held her breath when she heard the voices getting louder, when she heard people walking into the room. "Tell me again, what happened?" someone hissed. "I-I honestly don't know sir.. I.. I found their h-handcuffs, that's a-all." someone else stuttered. She felt bad for him. "We c-can't find them anywhere."

She took the Doctor's hand with hers. Her fingers were tightened in the grip, for the first time since the week before, showing she was slightly scared. Of course, the Doctor noticed it and squeezed her hand back, as if promising he wouldn't leave. He could feel that she was scared and he didn't want her to be.

It was then when she was able to admit something to herself. Him squeezing her hand wasn't the cause, it was the month of traveling, the month of being with the Doctor the entire time. Squeezing her hand was a sign that things would be fine, it was a sign of support and it was a sign that said they wouldn't leave each other. Denying it was useless and she knew it. When she looked up at the Doctor and saw the excitement in his eyes, she cursed mentally and had to force herself to fix her eyes on something else again. Damn it, the Doctor had messed with her feelings.

"We have to get out of here," the Doctor whispered and suddenly opened the door. For a second, a few eyes were fixed on the two, surprised to see them jumping out of the closet. Hermione had no idea what the Doctor was doing, but when she was pulled along, she realised that his 'brilliant' plan to escape was running.

It was hard to keep up with him, but she managed to do so. She had to run an awful lot of times since she started to travel with the Doctor so she was able to run for quite a long time by now. They were being followed by guards but they weren't as the Doctor and Hermione so the two were able to get safely inside the TARDIS.

The moment they had ran out Hermione had been fine. A bit worried, but also fine already. "Well, escaped once again. Haven't expected differently," she said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, and I know just the place we should go next! Allons-y!" the Doctor didn't take any time to rest and put on a smile. He flicked a few switches, turned a few knobs and told the TARDIS where to go.

"I hope you've taken us to real Rome this time," Hermione said while the TARDIS was shaking wildly. She was used to the sudden movements and knew how to keep her balance when she held on to the console.

"I suggest you take a look to find out," the Doctor said and smiled when they had finally landed. Hermione didn't exactly know what it that made her think it, but his smile didn't really look real. It was more like a sad smile and soon she would find out that her thoughts were true.

She opened the door and stepped outside, hoping badly to see Rome. Ancient Rome or modern Rome, it really didn't matter to her. It didn't take long for her to realize that they were at the place they had met. At the bench in front of the shed. Nothing had changed. "We're in London," she said and frowned. When she turned around, to see or the Doctor was following, she bumped up against him.

"Sorry," they said at the same time and both chuckled. "Yes, we may be in London, but London can be fun. We can do something that isn't stressful for once. Think about it," the Doctor said and Hermione found that he was right. The Doctor, though, knew he was lying and had to tell her the truth.

He bent through his knees so he would be at the same height as Hermione. She looked so elegant and exquisite. Her hair falling over her shoulders on her back, still a bit wild because of their past adventure, looked good on her. He couldn't even bring himself to think about her eyes, the perfect mixture of chocolate and coffee. He took her hand in his, he took the hand he had taken so much, he took the hand he had taken in his dream.

"Hermione, you'll have to stay here. It's been ten minutes since you've left in this world, nobody knows you have been traveling with me and nobody will believe it either because I brought you back in history. You will find someone, you will have a normal life and you'll forget about our adventures," he forced himself to speak the words out loud while he heard his voice shaking a bit.

"W-what do you mean?" Hermione asked, being worried and scared at the same time. If he meant what she thought he did… She wouldn't be able to live with that. "What is it? I will never forget about the traveling, about the TARDIS and most definitely I will never forget you. What's going on?"

"I can't get attached to someone, Hermione. It makes me weak. I can't become emotional or it will disturb my actions. I simply can't and for that I'll leave now," the Doctor tried to explain. It was hurting him so much to see the pain in her eyes. "But first," he whispered, standing up straight again and placing his hand on her cheek ,"you kiss me goodbye."

Hermione wanted to argue about it, wanted to stop the Doctor from leaving. The words she wanted to say were never able to be spoken out loud since soft lips were touching hers already. Lips, that felt like pillows, were planted against hers. The Doctor had taken his chance when Hermione had thought about the situation. He had pulled her close, had closed his eyes right before he kissed her, right before her response came.

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, and answered the kiss. The moment she moved her lips along with his, she closed her eyes and felt a tear rolling down her cheek. It took less than a second to taste the salt of the tear in her mouth. The kiss wasn't rough. It was a soft, slow kiss. The one that made people melt away, the sweet kind.

The feeling of her kissing him back, made the Doctor go dizzy. He didn't want it to end, he wanted her to stay there with him forever, but he couldn't admit to it. Slowly he pulled away and released himself out of her arms.

Hermione's eyes were still closed, probably because of the unexpected kiss and her lips were slightly parted. Her breathing was slow and it looked like the corners of her lips stood upwards. When she opened her eyes, she didn't see the Doctor standing in front of her. She was just in time to see the door of the TARDIS close, just in time to watch it materialize, just in time to see the person she loved leaving her behind.

**A/N:** A bit of a cliffhanger here, sorry for that. I'm actually excited for writing the next chapter although I don't know how long it will take me yet. Please review to let me know what you think of it and follow to keep updated.


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